On-Time Graduation Rate

An On-Time Graduation Rate provides a more accurate picture of what happens to high school students as they move toward graduation. It provides educators and policy makers with a better understanding of how their states’ school districts are performing in the all-important area of preparing students for college or the world of work. This is particularly important because traditionally graduation rates have been built on estimates or by the simplistic method of counting ninth graders and four years later counting graduating seniors.

Prior to 2004-05, Virginia did not have a system in place that would allow for students to be tracked throughout his or her PK-12 career. In 2004-05, Virginia implemented the Educational Information Management System (EIMS) to follow students through its 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. This unique identifier allowed the state to link the records of students who entered the ninth grade the first time to their records four years later to calculate the On-Time Graduation rate. The graduating class of 2008 was the first high school cohort for which there was four years of longitudinal data and an On-Time Graduation rate was reported.

The On-Time Graduation Rate recognizes that under state and federal law, students with disabilities and limited English proficiency may take longer than the typical four years to graduate. Therefore, under the new formula they can be factored into the On-Time Graduation Rate for the year in which they graduate.

However, students, other than those with disabilities or limited English proficiency (LEP), who are retained sometime along the four-year time period will not count as an on-time graduate.

Students who graduate early are counted as on-time graduates in the cohort of students with whom they would have graduated in the typical four-year time frame.