• Overview
• District Dropouts
• School Dropouts

Introduction

Since 1971, the South Carolina Department of Education has collected and analyzed data on school dropouts. The Report on Student Dropout Rates provides an assessment of the progress made by state and local school districts in their effort to reduce the number of school dropouts and increase the graduation rate. The annual data collection process employed in South Carolina reports students who leave school during a twelve-month period, including those who leave over the summer. The process allows those who re-enroll during the collection period and remain in school to be excluded from the count. The 2024-25 dropout report consists of nine tables. Table 1 contains a comparison of the total number of students enrolled in grades nine through twelve. This comparison, called an event rate, shows the proportion of students who drop out in one year. The resulting percentage may be compared yearly as an indicator of progress. Tables 2 through 9 compare the number of dropouts with the number of students enrolled by ethnicity and gender categories in grades nine through twelve.

Adult Education

During the 2024-25 school year, 8,000 students between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one were enrolled in adult education programs in South Carolina. In that year 1,075 of these students earned General Educational Development diplomas and 844 students earned high school diplomas.

Data Comparison

South Carolina Dropouts 2024 - 2025

Dropouts by Group	Dropouts	Enrollment	Dropouts Rate
All Students	4947	241811	2
Male	2993	122707	2.4
Female	1954	119104	1.6
American Indian or Alaska Native	23	687	3.3
Asian	27	4622	0.6
Blacks, Non-Hispanic	1682	74907	2.2
Hispanic	1103	34493	3.2
Mixed Race	311	13199	2.4
Pacific Islander	13	280	4.6
White, Non-Hispanic	1788	113575	1.6
Economically Disadvantaged	3550	140163	2.5
Homeless	176	2649	6.6
Limited English Proficient	811	13531	6
Students with Disabilties	973	30262	3.2