High school dropouts in the United States

The United States Department of Education's measurement of the status dropout rate is the percentage of 16 to 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in school and have not earned a high school credential.^[1] This rate is different from the event dropout rate and related measures of the status completion and average freshman completion rates.^[2] The status high school dropout rate in 2009 was 8.1%.^[1] There are many risk factors for high school dropouts. These can be categorized into social and academic risk factors.

Whites and specific members of racial and ethnic minority groups drop out at higher rates than Asian American students, as do those from low-income families, from single-parent households, mentally disabled students, and from families in which one or both parents also did not complete high school.^[3] Students at risk for dropout based on academic risk factors are those who often have a history of absenteeism and grade retention, academic trouble, and more general disengagement from school life.^[3]

High school dropouts in the United States are more likely to be unemployed, have low-paying jobs, be incarcerated, have children at early ages and/or become single parents.^[4] There is not a single race in the U.S. that as of 2019, has a 90 percent graduation rate. In order for the U.S. to have achieved this rate by 2020, almost 200,000 more students would have had to graduate in time.^[5]