Graduation Counts: A Report of the National Governors Association Task Force on State High School Graduation Data

America's high schools play an integral role in preparing students for college and work in the 21st century. High school success is more important than ever for the health of our economy, for civic life, and to ensure equal opportunity. Unfortunately, the quality of state high school graduation and dropout data is such that most states cannot accurately account for their students as they progress through high school. Until recently, many states had not collected both graduation and dropout data, and those that have collected these data have not generally obtained accurate information.1 Therefore, as education reform efforts increasingly focus on high schools, the quality of graduation and dropout data becomes even more critical.

The National Governors Association, under the leadership of NGA Chair Governor Mark R. Warner of Virginia, convened a Task Force on State High School Graduation Data to make recommendations about how states can develop a high-quality, comparable high school graduation measure, as well as complementary indicators of student progress and outcomes and data systems capable of collecting, analyzing, and reporting the data states need. The task force members found substantial consensus on which to build their findings and recommendations.

Governors, chief state school officers, higher education executive officers, legislators, state boards of education, district officials, principals, and teachers together must lead the charge to create better systems and methods of collecting, analyzing, and reporting graduation and dropout data. Specifically, the Task Force on State High School Graduation Data makes the following recommendations.