Attrition and Dropout Rates in Texas

Texas public schools are losing one out of four students.

• The statewide attrition rate was 26 percent for 2011-12. 
• Twelve students per hour leave before graduating high school.
• At this rate, Texas will not reach universal high school education for another quarter of a century in 2037.
• Numerically, 103,140 students were lost from our public high schools in 2011-12.
• The racial-ethnic gaps are dramatically higher than 27 years ago. The gap between the attrition rates of White students and Black students has doubled from 7 percentage points to 14. The gap between the rates of White students and Hispanic students has increased from 18 percentage points to 21.
• Black students and Hispanic students are about two times more likely to leave school without graduating with a diploma than White students.
• Students from ethnic minority groups account for nearly three-fourths (72.2 percent) of the estimated 3.2 million students lost from public high school enrollment.

Infographic: Texas High School Attrition
See IDRA’s new graphic showing how Texas public schools are losing one out of four students. It doesn’t have to be this way. (sharable web graphic, png)

Communities and their neighborhood public schools can turn the tide. Together we can and must guarantee that every child graduates from high school ready for college and the world of work. Get ideas and strategies for school action, for collective action, for individual action and for parent action.

IDRA’s Quality School Action Framework guides communities and schools in identifying weak areas and strengthening public schools’ capacities to graduate and prepare all students for success. IDRA’s new book, Courage to Connect: A Quality Schools Action Framework™ shows how communities and schools can work together to be successful with all of their students. The book’s web page provides a table of contents, excerpt, related podcasts and other resources.

Receive IDRA’s Graduation for All free bilingual (Spanish/English) monthly e-letter to get up-to-date information to make a difference in your school and community.

IDRA has developed a one-page School Holding Power Checklist with a set of criteria for assessing and selecting effective dropout prevention strategies and for making sure your school is a quality school.

See IDRA’s set of principles for policymakers and school leaders.

IDRA’s online OurSchool data portal helps community and school partners examine their school data and plan joint action to improve school holding power. The data portal is also available in Spanish.

See a list of dropout and graduation studies by IDRA and others over time.