Deputy Secretary of Education Ray Simon today released the following statement regarding the posting of the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR), which was announced in July at the National Governors Association meeting:

The new Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate is important first step towards a national perspective on the success of our high schools. This new, interim figure is a more comprehensive and accurate assessment of the percentage of students who graduate from high school on time, four years after they enter.

Importantly, the AFGR is formulated with currently available data already collected by the U.S. Department of Education, and is comparable across states. The rate has been shown to track closely with the true on-time graduation rate.

As I said in July, reporting the AFGR helps not just educators, but students as well. Improving the accuracy of our graduation statistics allows us to better target resources and tailor instruction for children who might otherwise fall through the cracks and eventually drop out.

The Department will now be able to see national trends better and to identify which states need to improve their individual reporting the most. This new figure will give us direction as we push for much needed high school reform.

This first release includes the AFGR for the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 school years, and can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006601.

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