No Child Left Behind Act: Education Could Do More to Help States Better Define Graduation Rates and Improve Knowledge about Intervention Strategies

About a third of students entering high school do not graduate and face limited job prospects. The No Child Left Behind Act requires states to use graduation rates to measure how well students are educated. To assess the accuracy of states' rates and to review programs that may increase rates, GAO was asked to examine (1) the graduation rate definitions states use and how the Department of Education (Education) helped states meet legal requirements, (2) the factors that affect the accuracy of states' rates and Education's role in ensuring accurate data, and (3) interventions with the potential to increase graduation rates and how Education enhanced and disseminated knowledge of intervention research.

GAO recommends Education provide information to all states on ways to account for different types of students in graduation rate calculations, assess the reliability of state data used to calculate interim rates, and establish a timetable to implement the recommendation in GAO's 2002 report to evaluate research and also to disseminate such research. Education agreed with GAO's recommendations on accounting for different types of students and the need for research. On GAO's other recommendation, Education noted steps it was taking to assess data reliability though it is unclear that such steps address data to be used for interim rates.

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