Public Education - High School Graduation Rate
Summary Indicator Report Data View Options
New Mexico High School Graduation Rates by School District, New Mexico, Four Year Cohort, 2018-2019
New Mexico High School Graduation Rates by County, New Mexico, Four Year Cohort, 2018-2019
Why Is This Important?
Education level is strongly related to health status for a variety of reasons. Education is associated with better earning potential and higher income which enables purchase of better housing in safer neighborhoods, healthier food, health insurance coverage and more timely medical care. Persons who have clear goals and a sense of control over their own lives tend to have both a higher education level and better health (Lachman & Weaner, 1998). Short-term health problems associated with not graduating from high school include substance use, pregnancy, and psychological, emotional, and behavioral problems. For adolescent females, teenage pregnancy is the leading reason for not graduating; an estimated 30% - 40% of female teenaged dropouts are mothers. Early parenting also affects young males who leave school to support a child. Mental illness and emotional disturbance also account for a significant proportion of students who don't graduate (Freudenberg & Ruglis, 2007).
Definition
The rate of students who began high school as a 9th grader and who then proceeded to graduate from high school 4 years later. In the case of transfers between school districts, a student's outcome was proportionally distributed among all school districts contributing to that student's outcome. The New Mexico Public Education Department calls this the Shared Accountability model. These rates are calculated for students who graduated 4 years after entering high school as freshmen, called "4-year cohort". All students entering New Mexico public high schools, in any grade, become members of an on-time cohort. Graduates are students who graduate with a standard diploma. Students who get a GED or a Certificate of Completion are considered "non-graduates" in this computation of the graduation rate. All schools with any grade 9, 10, 11, or 12 receive a rate.
Data Source
National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences(https://nces.ed.gov)
How the Measure is Calculated
| Numerator: | The number of students that graduated from high school on time in a given year. This number is the total of all students and student fractions (in the case of transfers) for high school graduates, aggregated for each school district. |
| Denominator: | The total number of students. This number is a count of all students enrolled for any period of time during the 4 year period ending in the year shown. |
Other Objectives
New Mexico Community Health Status Indicator (CHSI)
More Resources
See the New Mexico Public Education Department for additional data and other information about graduation rates and what is being done to improve education in New Mexico. Website: [www.ped.state.nm.us] References: Lachman ME, Weaver SL. The sense of control as a moderator of social class differences in health and well-being. _Journal of Personality and Social Psychology_, 1998 Mar;74(3):763-73. Freudenberg N, Ruglis J. Reframing school dropout as a public health issue. (Prev Chronic Dis 2007;4(4).