Attrition and Dropout Rates in Texas
Texas public schools are losing one out of five students.
Each year, IDRA releases its attrition study. Attrition rates are an indicator of a school’s holding power, or the ability to keep students enrolled in school and learning until they graduate. Key findings from the latest study show the following.
- Texas schools are failing to graduate more than one of every five high school students
- The Texas public school attrition rates increased each year since 2020-21.
- It has taken almost four decades for Texas to reduce the state’s attrition rate by a mere 11 points from 33% to 22%.
- Total attrition rates and those of the state’s largest groups (Black, Latino, white) are higher than the year before COVID-19.
- For the class of 2023, Latino students and Black students were more than twice as likely to leave school without graduating than white students.
- The attrition rate gap between white students and Black students has more than doubled between 1985-86 and 2022-23.
See a preview article for the 2022-23 study: Schools Struggle to Hold On to Students – Preview of IDRA’s 38th Annual Texas Public School Attrition Study
See reporter FAQs and resources regarding attrition and dropout data (and downloadable graphics).
Quick Links to IDRA’s Attrition Study Stories and Resources
Attrition Study 2021-22: High School Attrition Rate Sees First Increase in Six Years – Texas Public School Attrition Study 2021-22
News Release (2020-21 study): Texas High Schools Reaches All-Time Low Attrition Rate, but Still Loses 80,000 Students – IDRA Study Gives a First Look at the Pandemic’s Effect on Attrition Rates
Attrition Study 2020-21: Texas Public School Attrition Study 2020-21
Infographic: Texas public schools are losing one out of five students
Infographic: 8 Types of Dropout Data Defined
Infographic: 6 Policies and Practices that Lead to Higher Dropout Rates
Trend graphs: See attrition rates and numbers over 10 years
Sign up for email notices
Additional Resources
Book: Courage to Connect: A Quality Schools Action Framework
Overview of the Valued Youth Partnership program, which keeps 98 percent of students in school (PDF)
Ideas and Strategies for Action