• 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 2023-24 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 2023-24 school year, 8,586 students between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one were enrolled in adult education programs in South Carolina. In that year 1,172 of these students earned General Educational Development diplomas and 667 students earned high school diplomas.

Data Comparison

South Carolina Dropouts 2023 - 2024

Dropouts by Group	Dropouts	Enrollment	Dropouts Rate
All Students	5036	245392	2.1
Male	3067	124545	2.5
Female	1969	120847	1.6
American Indian or Alaska Native	28	729	3.8
Asian	42	4577	0.9
Blacks, Non-Hispanic	1833	77069	2.4
Hispanic	923	34265	2.7
Mixed Race	284	12693	2.2
Pacific Islander	6	281	2.1
White, Non-Hispanic	1920	115672	1.7
Economically Disadvantaged	2672	142561	1.9
Homeless	80	2382	3.4
Limited English Proficient	786	14808	5.3
Migrant	15	559	2.7
Students with Disabilties	746	30217	2.5