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Introduction
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The following report provides information on students who dropped out of Massachusetts public schools during the 1998-99 reporting year (July 1, 1998, to June 30, 1999). Dropouts are defined as students in grades nine through twelve who leave school prior to graduation for reasons other than transfer to another school. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education reports a dropout measure that was developed by the U.S. Department of Education. According to this measure, students who drop out during a particular reporting year, but return to school by October 1 of the following year, referred to in this report as returned dropouts, are not counted as dropouts. The dropout rate is the number of students who drop out over a one-year period, from July 1 to June 30, minus the number of returned dropouts, divided by the October 1 enrollment. This measure will eventually be adopted by all states, allowing for comparisons between states and with the national average.
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| A dropout is defined as a student in grade nine through twelve who leaves school prior to graduation for reasons other than transfer to another school and does not re-enroll before the following October 1. |
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| The dropout rate is the number of students who drop out over a one-year period, from July 1 to June 30, minus the number of returned dropouts, divided by the October 1 enrollment. |
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This is the seventh consecutive year that the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has reported dropout data using this measure. Prior to 1993, the Department reported a dropout rate that counted all students who dropped out of school regardless of whether they returned to school. This rate, called the unadjusted dropout rate, is not included in the textual analysis section of this report. Therefore, data in this section of the report are not comparable to data for years prior to 1993. Data comparable with earlier years are available from the Department. The unadjusted rate for 1999 is included in the list of annual dropout data for schools and districts at the end of this report.
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