Q & A about On-Time Graduation RatesQ: How is this rate different than those used in the past?
A: Unlike estimated rates based on comparisons of graduates with ninth-grade enrollment four years earlier, the Virginia On-time Graduation Rate is an actual rate that takes into consideration student mobility, changes in enrollment, and promotion and retention policies and decisions.
Q: How many different ways does the Virginia Department of Education calculate graduation rates?
A: The VDOE reports an Unadjusted Graduation Rate, a No Child Left Behind Graduation Rate and now an On-Time Graduation Rate. All three provide different figures based on calculations.
Q: How is Virginia’s new graduation rate calculated?
A: The new formula also recognizes that some students are allowed more than the standard four years to earn a diploma while still being counted as “on-time” graduates.
Simply put, the graduation rate equals [on-time graduates in year x] divided by [(first-time entering 9th graders in year x minus 4) plus (Transfers in) minus (transfers out)]
Q: How does Virginia track who graduates on time?
A: Virginia’s Educational Information Management System follows students through Virginia’s public schools by assigning a unique number to every student. This number, known as a “state-testing identifier,” stays with the student throughout his or her PK-12 career. Using each student’s identifier, the records of students who entered the ninth-grade for the first time in 2004-05 were linked to their records four years later to determine their status and calculate the 2008 Virginia On-Time Graduation Rate for schools, school divisions and the commonwealth
Q: Who is considered an on-time graduate?
A: An on-time Virginia public school graduate is a student who earns one of five Board of Education recognized diplomas — Advanced, Standard, Modified Standard, Special or General Achievement Diploma — within four years of the first time he or she entered the 9th grade. Special education students as well as ESL students are also considered on time even if they take longer than four years to graduate.
Q: How are students who graduate early included in the Virginia On-Time Graduation Rate?
A: Students who graduate in fewer than four years are counted as on-time graduates and are included in the graduation rate calculated for their original ninth-grade cohort. For example, a student who entered the ninth-grade for the first time in 2005-06 but earned a diploma in 2008 will be counted as an on-time graduate in 2009.
Q: What happens to students who take longer than four years?
A: Under state and federal law, students with disabilities and limited English proficiency are allowed longer than four years to graduate. Under the new formula these students can be factored into the On-Time Graduation Rate for the year in which they graduate.
Students who do not have disabilities or Limited English Proficiency (LEP), but are retained sometime along the four-year time period will not count as an on-time graduate.
If the student does go on to graduate in five years, it will be reflected in a five-year-graduation rate that VDOE plans to report in 2009.
Q: Will the new On Time Graduation Rate affect Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) toward the goals of No Child Left Behind (NCLB)?
A: No. While the Virginia On-Time Graduation Rate will appear on VDOE report cards for schools, school divisions and the commonwealth, it will NOT be used to determine AYP. Instead the estimated graduation rate adopted as part of Virginia’s NCLB implementation plan will continue to serve as an academic indicator for calculating AYP ratings for the 2008-09 school year.
It should also be noted that other agencies have their own ways of calculating graduation rates and will most likely continue to promote their findings.
Q: If your On-Time Graduation Rate is not 100 percent, where are the remaining students?
A: The group of students not included in an On-Time Graduation Rate include those students with disabilities and limited English proficiency who are allowed longer than four years to graduate, those students who are retained, as well as students who are seeking out GED’s or other educational paths to high school completion.
