• 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 2018-19 dropout report consists of nine tables. Table 1 contains a comparison of the total number of dropouts with the total enrollment 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 enrollment by ethnicity and gender categories in grades nine through twelve.

Adult Education

During the 2018-19 school year more than 6,449 students between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one were enrolled in adult education programs in South Carolina. In that year 2,005 of these students between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one earned General Educational Development diplomas (GEDs).

Data Comparison

South Carolina Dropouts 2018 - 2019

Dropouts by Group	Dropouts	Enrollment	Dropouts Rate
All Students	4850	224862	2.2
Male	3004	114615	2.6
Female	1846	110250	1.7
American Indian or Alaska Native	34	729	4.7
Asian	21	3898	0.5
Blacks, Non-Hispanic	1759	71589	2.5
Hispanic	648	22147	2.9
Mixed Race	176	8497	2.1
White, Non-Hispanic	2206	117672	1.9
Economically Disadvantaged	3558	121462	2.9
Limited English Proficient	429	12402	3.5
Migrant	4	74	5.4
Students with Disabilties	1677	27856	6