Cohort Graduation Rate

1. Cohort Graduation Rate October 1, 2010 Jonathan Wiens and Sara Berscheit Office of Assessment and Information Services Oregon Department of Education

2. Longitudinal Data Systems

3. Longitudinal Data • The implementation of the Secure Student Identifier system in 2004-05 allowed Oregon to begin following individual students over multiple years – creating a longitudinal data system. • This also allows us to follow cohorts of students through time. • This allows us to look at data in a new way: • Changes in individual students test scores from year to year (Growth Model) • Student outcomes over multiple years (e.g., graduation, dropout, special populations membership)

4. Historic Graduation Rate Oregon used the modified National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) graduation rate in AYP and Report Card. It was based on a single year of dropout and graduation data: It did not take into account other student outcomes.

5. Cohort Graduation Rates The Class of 2009 was the first group of students that we could follow from 8th grade through graduation. This was the first group of students for which we could produce a reliable cohort graduation rate. We can determine the final status of all students to get a clearer picture of student outcomes.

6. Graduation Cohorts

7. What is a Cohort? • A cohort is a set of students who first enter high school during a particular school year. • We label cohorts by the school year they started ninth grade. • Example: the “0506” cohort is the set of students who first entered 9th grade during the 2005-06 school year. This was the graduating class of 2009.

8. High School Entry Year Rules • A student’s first year in high school is called his/her High School Entry Year. • HS Entry Year is based on the first year the student was enrolled in a high school grade (9-12). • For most students this is their 9th grade school year. • The high school entry year determines the student’s cohort for graduation rate purposes.

9. High School Entry Year Rules • Students who repeat a grade in high school do not have their Entry Year changed. • Entry Year does not change when a student transfers between schools or districts. • Students who transfer from out of state have their Entry Year based on their first year in high school in the other state or country.

10. High School Entry Year in SSID High School Entry year is now a field in SSID. In Fall 2009 ODE filled this field for high school students, based on an examination of ADM, completer and early leaver date for each student. Districts were allowed to edit the field through February 2010, and is now “locked.”

11. High School Entry Year Edits The HS Entry Year field can now be changed only under very limited circumstances. The first time SSID is updated to include a high school grade the district must submit an Entry Year with the record. The field is locked immediately. Changes can be made only through an appeal to ODE.

12. What is a Cohort Graduation Rate? A cohort graduation rate is the percent of students in a particular cohort that graduate in a particular time frame (e.g., four years). The rates requires us to know when students first entered high school (i.e., the cohort the student belongs to).

13. What Cohort Rates will ODE produce? • We produced a four year cohort in May 2010. • In Spring 2011 we will produce: • A four-year cohort graduation rate (for the Class of 2010) • A five-year cohort graduation rate (for the Class of 2009)

14. Cohort Graduation Rates Policy

15. Federal Policy • The U.S. Department of Education has required that states develop cohort graduation rates by the 2010-11 school year. • Cohort rates must be included on 2010-11 school report cards. • Disaggregated cohort rates must be used in 2011-12 AYP determinations. • Federal regulations and guidance are detailed and prescriptive. Oregon has followed these regulations in developing our cohort graduation rate calculations.

16. Cohorts Rules • Early graduates in a cohort are “banked” and reported with their cohort. • Students who graduate after the end of the time period are counted as non-completers • Example: A student who graduates in his/her fifth year would be a non-graduate in a four-year cohort rate, but a graduate in a five-year rate.

17. Cohorts Rules • The cohort rate includes adult high school diplomas, modified diplomas, GEDs and non-dropout, non-completers in its denominator as non-graduates. • Federal guidance specifically forbids “cohort reassignment” based on IEP or LEP status.

18. Subgroup Membership • Race/Ethnicity/Gender • Based on student outcome record (or last enrollment record). • Students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged, limited English proficient, migrant, TAG • Based on whether the student was classified in these subgroups at any time during high school

19. Students with Disabilities Subgroup Definition All students served by special education programs during any school year in which the student was enrolled in a high school grade. Steps to identify the subgroup A list of SSIDs is created, of students considered Students with Disabilities, from the Special Education Data Collections Students included in the Cohort, who are also on the Students with Disabilities list, are counted in the Students with Disabilities subgroup.

20. Students with Disabilities Subgroup – Data Collections Special Education Child Count • All school-age students reported as eligible and receiving services. Cohort uses the SECC collections applicable to the years the student was enrolled in high school. Special Education June Exit • All school-age students reported as exiting special education services. Cohort uses the collections applicable to the years the student was enrolled in high school. Special Education Child Find • This collection was not used in the cohort calculations.

21. Cohort Graduation Rate Calculations

22. Cohort Process Determine students who first entered high school in a given school year. Determine each student’s final outcome. Assign the students to their last resident district and high school. Remove student who transferred out. Among those that remain, calculate the percent who graduated with a regular diploma in the time allowed.

23. Unadjusted Cohorts The Unadjusted State Cohort consists of all students that: • enrolled in a high school grade in an Oregon school district, and • first entered high school in during the cohort entry year in any school inside or outside Oregon.

24. Unadjusted Cohorts An unadjusted cohort for District A is comprised of all student that are: • Members of the unadjusted state cohort; and • whose last enrollment at a district in Oregon was District A. • This includes students that transfer into the district after their 9th grade year. An unadjusted cohort for School B is comprised of all student that are: • Members of the unadjusted district cohort whose last enrollment at a high school within District A was at School B. Note: Resident school and district are always used to determine enrollment.

25. Student Outcomes All students in the unadjusted state/district cohort are assigned an outcome: • Graduate: regular high school diploma. • Exempt: Transfer, move to home schooling, emigrate, or are deceased. • Other Completers: Received an Adult High School Diploma, Modified Diploma, Extended Diploma, GED, or Alternative Certificate. • Continuing enrollment in the following year. • Completed four/five years without a credential and did not return. • Withdrew from school prior to the end of the four/five-year window.

26. Exempt Students We remove students from an institution’s cohort if they: • Transfer to another public high school in Oregon; • Transfer to a private school; • Leave for home schooling; • Transfer to a high school in another state; • Emigrate; or • Are deceased.

27. Who is NOT exempted? The following situations do NOT exempt a student from an institution: • Transfer to an alternative program within the district; • Transfer to a JDEP.

28. Adjusted Cohorts The Adjusted cohort for a school or district consists of the unadjusted cohort minus those students who are Exempt. Please note: • Adjusted cohorts include those students who transfer into the school or district after 9th grade. • Students who drop out before the end of their 12th grade year are retained in the cohort.

29. Who is exempted? We remove students from an institution’s cohort if they: • Transfer to another public high school in Oregon; • Transfer to a private school; • Leave for home schooling; • Transfer to a high school in another state; • Emigrate; or • Are deceased. Note: These outcomes must be the last event for the student.

30. Calculating a Cohort Graduation Rate Cohort Graduation Rates are calculated as: Four-Year Rate: Number of students in the adjusted cohort who received regular diplomas the summer of their 4th year ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Number of students in the adjusted cohort Five Year Rate: Number of students in the adjusted cohort who received regular diplomas the summer of their 5th year ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Number of students in the adjusted cohort

31. AYP for 2010-11 Schools can meet AYP graduation if: • The school meets the 65% target for the four-year rate; • The school meets the 70% target for the five-year rate; OR • The school shows improvement in its four year rate. Beginning with 2011-12 subgroups will also need to meet graduation.

32. Information Cohort Graduation Rate web page: http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=2644 For more information on the Cohort Graduation Rate, contacts are: Brian Lindsley (primary contact) email: brian.lindsley@state.or.us phone: 503-947-5928 Jon Wiens email: jon.wiens@state.or.us phone: 503 947-5764