A new report by the National Center for Education Statistics suggests a strong relationship between the number of credit hours a high-school student earns as a freshman and their likelihood to drop out. With this information, could school administrators identify potential dropouts early enough to intervene?
Based on an analysis of the outcomes of a cohort of students who were in the 10th grade in 2002, the report, “Course Credit Accrual and Dropping Out of High School,” “examines the timing of dropping out and its relationship to the number of credits earned by high school students.”
In 2004, roughly 5 percent of the 10th graders from 2002 dropped out, 2 percent were still enrolled, 12 percent graduated early or received their GED and 82 percent graduated from high school.
Researchers found that the dropouts had failed to earn enough credit hours in their freshman year to put them on path for an on-time graduation. The trend continued each year, with students failing to earn the same amount of credits as graduation-bound students.
Average Course Credits Earned
