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Maine Children's Alliance

High School graduation rates by priority populations in Maine

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Why This Indicator Matters

All youth deserve to have access to a quality education. Students are low income, have disabilities or are learning English have additional barriers to graduation.  Students who graduate from high school have higher wages, lower unemployment and are less likely to need public assistance than those who do not graduate. Their long-term physical and mental health is also better if they graduate from high school.

What the data shows
In 2021, in Maine, nearly every population subgroup had lower graduation rates than the year before. For all students, graduation rates decreased from 87.4% in 2020 to 86.1% in 2021, the lowest it has been since 2016. Economically disadvantaged students' graduation rates fell from 78.9% to 76.7%; English language learners rates fell from 80.7% to 75.6%; and students in special education graduation rates fell from 73.8% to 72.8%.

Comparing Maine to the nation, 2019 is the latest year with data. In 2019, Maine had graduation rates above the national average for students with disabilities at 71.0% versus the US 2019 rate of 68.2%. State graduation rates for students with disabilities 20196
For English language learners, Maine's 2019 high school graduation rate in 4 years of 80.6% exceeded the 2019 national rate of 69.2%.  Graduation Rates for English Language Learners  For economically disadvantaged students that make up 49% of the student population, the graduation rate in Maine of 77.5% for 2019 was lower than the national rates 2019 rate of 80.0%. Graduation rates of low-income students and Maine is among the ten states with the largest gap in graduation rates between low-income students and high-income students.
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Definitions: The percent of youth who graduate in 4 years from public schools and 60% publicly funded private schools.  Maine Department of education reports on graduation rates 5 on: 1) economically disadvantaged students, 2) English Learners, and 3) students with disabilities 4) students in foster care, 5.) students who are homeless, or 6.) in migrant families or 7.) military families. Each of these groups is a priority population.

Data Source: Maine Department of Education Data Warehouse: Student Outcomes 
Note that previous year data was also updated with the latest update, reflecting changes made by Maine DOE.  For national statistics, see  2018-2019 Graduation Rates By State

Footnotes: Examines a cohort of ninth graders and whether they graduated within 4 years. The year represents the end of school year, so 2021 is the school year September 2020 to June 2021.

 Updated January 2022.