A Road Map to State Graduation Policies

An examination of four key areas tied to high school completion shows wide variation across the nation.

Recent efforts to better prepare students for postsecondary education and the workplace have brought new attention to high school graduation requirements and related policies.

For Diplomas Count , the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center compiled data on 16 state-policy indicators in four categories tied to graduation: coursetaking requirements for obtaining a standard diploma, the existence of state exit or end-of-course exams, high school completion credentials offered by the state, and the age at which students can legally leave school.

The indicators were obtained for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The indicators were culled from Education Week’s Quality Counts 2006 report and a variety of other sources, including the Denver-based Education Commission of the States, the Washington-based Center on Education Policy, and state education agencies. The results clearly show that policies on graduation vary considerably...