Officials explain methodology behind Mississippi's 89.4% graduation rate

MDE staff provided a technical briefing Jan. 18 explaining how the department calculated the state's 2024 graduation rate and why some subgroup counts changed from the prior year.

Paula Allen, who presented the graduation-rate slides, said the department calculates rates in accordance with state law using the federally defined 4-year adjusted cohort graduation-rate method, which counts students who entered 9th grade in 2019-20. "These are the final statuses that students can receive at the end of the cohort window," Allen said, explaining categories such as graduates, completers and students still enrolled.

The presenter flagged pandemic-related impacts: waivers and counting changes meant one more year of pandemic influence remains in calculations and some subgroup counts (notably economically disadvantaged students) shifted, which can affect rate comparisons. The department pointed to 66 districts with graduation rates of 90% or higher and provided distribution tables showing highest and lowest district rates and dropout-rate groupings.

What was reported: The department summarized subgroup trends, noting that students with disabilities showed continued increases in graduation rates and that some small-count subgroups (for example, American Indian or Alaska Native students) can show large year-to-year swings because of small sample sizes.

Availability: Allen said a full backup report with per-district and per-school tables has been posted to the department's website and is included in the board packet. Staff invited board members to review the machine-readable tables for district-level details.

Next steps: No policy change was taken at the board meeting; staff offered to answer follow-up questions and said national cohort figures will be available next May when federal reporting is released.