December 10, 2020

National College Progression Rates

High School Benchmarks 2020: National College Progression Rates
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Key Findings 2020.........................................................................3
Introduction...................................................................................4
For the Purpose of This Report............................................4
Important Note on the Data.................................................5
Section 1: National Results.........................................................6

COVID-19 Special Analysis
released in December 2020 has
been updated and restated tocorrect a process error. View the
updated results.

Enrollment..............................................................................6
Persistence.............................................................................7
Completion.............................................................................8
Enrollment and Completion Rates by
School Minority and Income Levels................................8
Top Categories of Majors at Immediate
College Enrollment and at Completion...............................9
STEM Completion...................................................................9
Section 2: Results by High School Type(for Use by Individual High Schools).......................................... 13
Guidance on How to Interpretthe Outcomes in this Section............................................ 13
Results Tables & Figures.................................................... 13
Appendix A: Methodological Notes....................................... 14
Appendix B: Full Result Tables................................................ 20
Appendix C: Postsecondary Coverage Tables..................... 20© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

2

KEY FINDINGS 2020
Postsecondary Enrollment
Higher-income high school graduates were 24 percent
more likely to enroll in college immediately than thosefrom low-income schools (68 percent and 55 percent,respectively). The gap was even larger between lowand high-poverty schools measured by the prevalenceof eligible students for a free or reduced-price lunch
program.

Persistence During the First Year of
CollegeOnce enrolled, 88 percent of students from higherincome high schools returned to their second year incollege, compared to 78 percent from low-income highschools.

Completion Within Six Years ofHigh School Graduation
Students from low-poverty high schools were more than
twice as likely to earn a degree within six years of highschool graduation (60 percent) as their counterparts fromhigh-poverty schools (23 percent). Also, 37 percent ofstudents from urban high schools completed a degree
within six years, compared to 41 percent from ruralschools and 47 percent from suburban schools.

© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

When minority and income levels are cross-examined,
enrollment and completion gaps between higher- andlow-income high schools at each minority level were
substantially larger than the gaps between high- and lowminority schools regardless of income levels.
Low-income and high-minority high school graduatescompleted college within six years at the lowest rate (28percent), a gap of 25 percentage points from the rate forhigher-income and low-minority school graduates (53percent).

STEM Degree Completion
STEM degree completion was strongly associated withboth the minority and income levels of originating highschools. Eighteen percent from higher-income schools,
but only nine percent from low-income schools, andsimilarly, 17 percent from low-minority schools, but only
10 percent from high-minority schools, earned STEM
degrees within six years of high school graduation.
In addition, persistence gaps are notable in STEM majors.
During enrollment, engineering was one of the top
five majors at four-year colleges for graduates of both
higher-income and low-income high schools. However, atcompletion, only graduates from higher-income schools
had engineering as one of their top five most common
majors.

3

INTRODUCTION
This eighth annual High School Benchmarks Reportprovides the updated data on high school graduates’
college access, persistence, and completion outcomes.
The report was designed with several features particularly
tailored to secondary education practitioners andpolicymakers. First, results presented in this report
update our last years’ findings on high school graduates’
enrollment in a college or university, persistence fromfirst to second year, and eventual completion of apostsecondary degree. As a result, these metrics provide
the relevant benchmarks that secondary education
practitioners can use to evaluate and monitor progressin assisting students to make the transition fromhigh school to college. Second, these outcomes weredisaggregated by several high school characteristics,
which include: income level, minority enrollment, andlocale. This was done to ensure that the postsecondary
outcomes provided can be relevant to the specific needs
and characteristics of the different types of high schools.
Finally, in addition to providing the updated benchmarking
figures for high schools, the enrollment, persistence,and completion data are more complete than other data
sources because it covers all postsecondary enrollments.
Specifically, National Student Clearinghouse data captures
all patterns of enrollment and completion, regardless ofwhich postsecondary institution that students attend (e.g.,out of state, private, public, or for-profit institutions) andregardless of transfers.
Immediate college enrollment rates of high school
graduates at the national level are available through theCondition of Education published by NCES annually.1
Thousands of high schools and districts also haveaccess to timely reports on college access, persistence,and completion rates of their graduates throughthe StudentTracker® service of the National Student
Clearinghouse. This report enables those schools tocompare their students’ outcomes to those of otherschools with similar characteristics, and that also use
the StudentTracker service. Using the results reported
here, high schools and districts can place their own
StudentTracker results into context with college access,persistence, and completion rates for schools with similar
student populations in similar locales across the country.

The report provides college enrollment, persistence,and completion outcomes for public non-charter, public
charter, and private high school graduates.
It is important to note that the sample sizes for charterand private high schools are smaller than those of
the public non-charter schools. Therefore, the results
for charter and private schools are subject to higher
variance and uncertainty than the results for public noncharter schools. For this reason, we do not recommend
comparing these categories or using the results to draw
conclusions about the differences between the school
types.
For students of public non-charter high schools, alloutcomes are reported in nine categories. These
categories, which are defined by the aggregatecharacteristics of each high school, are as follows:■

Low income schools—■

High poverty

Higher income schools—

Low poverty■

Low minority schools■

High minority schools■

Urban schools■

Suburban schools■

Rural schools

For the Purpose of This Report:■

Low income schools are defined as schools
where at least 50 percent of the students are
eligible for a free or reduced-price lunch.

■

High minority schools are defined as schools
where at least 40 percent of the students areblack or Hispanic.

■

The NCES urban-centric locale code defines
locale. Schools with a code from 11 to 13 aredefined as urban. Schools with a code from 21
to 23 are defined as suburban. And those witha code from 31 to 43, covering both town andrural areas, are defined as rural.

Hussar, B., NCES; Zhang, J., Hein, S., Wang, K., Roberts, A., Cui, J., Smith, M., AIR; Bullock Mann, F., Barmer, A., and Dilig, R., RTI (2020): The
Condition of Education 2020 (NCES 2020-144). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

1© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

4

For schools in low income and higher income categories,
we also have outcomes for graduates from a subset of low
income schools defined as high-poverty schools (schools
where at least 75 percent of the student population iseligible for free or reduced-price lunch) and a subset of
higher-income schools as low-poverty (schools where lessthan 25 percent of the student population is eligible forfree or reduced price lunch). Selected outcomes for highand low-poverty schools are highlighted in the central partof the report. All outcomes can be found in Appendix B.
A complete explanation of definitions can be found in
Appendix A.
The tables and figures present:■■

Total college-going rate, including:—

Enrollment in the first fall after highschool graduation—

Enrollment at any time in the first year after
high school graduation—

Enrollment at any time in the first two years
after high school graduation

Persistence from first to second year of college.
This is the number of students who remained
enrolled for their second year of college asa percent of the number of students who© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

enrolled in during the first year after high school
graduation. It includes students who may
have transferred or re-enrolled at a different
institution from the one where they started.
■

Six-year college completion rates, both overall
and in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering,and Mathematics) fields, in particular, expressedas the percentage of high school graduates
who complete a degree at any college within six
years of high school graduation.

■

Top five categories of majors at immediatecollege enrollment and at completion by highschool type.

College enrollment rates are calculated for the highschool graduating classes of 2019 and 2018 looking at
first fall outcomes, the first-year outcome calculated forthe classes of 2018 and 2017, and the first two years’
outcomes calculated for the classes of 2017 and 2016.
The persistence rates were calculated for the high school
graduating class of 2017. The six-year college completion
rates were calculated for the high school graduating classof 2013. Results are also broken down by the type ofcollege attended: public and private institutions, two- andfour-year institutions, as well as in-state and out-of-state
institutions.

5Important Note on the Data
The data for this report were drawn from a voluntary
sample made up of all high schools participating in
the StudentTracker for High Schools service (STHS)
administered by the National Student Clearinghouse (The
Clearinghouse). High schools participating in this service
pay a small annual fee to receive an extensive set ofanalytic data reports, three times per year, detailing thepostsecondary access and success outcomes for up to
eight cohorts of their graduating classes.
This is not a nationally representative sample of schools
or of high school graduates. Compared to all U.S.
high schools, participating STHS schools have greater
representation among schools with more minority
enrollments and more urban locales. See Table 1 for abreakdown of the current sample in comparison to thenational population.
Table 1 describes the distribution of enrolled high school
students in the class of 2019 and 2013 in comparison
to national numbers derived from NCES by the different
school characteristics. As the table demonstrates,
the sample used in this report underrepresents rural
enrollments and over-represents urban enrollments. The
data also slightly over-represent high minority enrollments.
In terms of the distribution across higher and low-income
schools, however, the data coverage from this report issimilar to the national data.

This is a descriptive study. Causal inferences should
not be made based on these results. The data on
which this report is based do not comprise a nationally
representative sample of schools or of high school
graduates as described above. Yet, it is a large and broad
sample, covering over one million students per year, a
total of about six million students from public and private
high schools for the five high school graduating classes,
or about 40 percent of all U.S. high school graduatesin each year. It includes data from all 50 states and the
majority of the 100 largest districts in the U.S (for moredetailed information about the sample, see Appendix A).
In addition to providing reasonable benchmarks for eachcategory of schools and districts using StudentTracker
reports, we believe it also significantly contributes todiscussions among practitioners and policymakers at theschool, district, state, and national levels about equitable
access to and completion in postsecondary education.
The data on college enrollments for this report, and for the
STHS reports that the participating high schools receive,
are drawn from the National Student Clearinghouse’s
unique, longitudinal data that cover 97 percent ofenrollments at US colleges and universities as of 2018.

Table 1. Comparison of Samples in High School Benchmarks Report with the National High School
Population*
Enrolled Students (HS Class of 2019)NSC

National

School Characteristics

N = 1,469,189

N = 3,227,188

Low Income Schools

39.14%

37.47%

Higher Income Schools

60.86%High Minority Schools

46.33%NSC National

Enrolled Students (HS Class of 2013)NSC

National

NSC National

N = 1,532,495

N = 3,109,677

1.67%

36.83%

36.62%

0.21%

62.53%-1.67%

63.17%

63.38%-0.21%

39.51%

6.81%

40.96%

35.19%

5.77%

Low Minority Schools

53.67%

60.49%-6.81%

59.04%

64.81%-5.77%

Urban Schools

35.32%

26.85%

8.47%

34.83%

26.92%

7.91%

Suburban Schools

45.04%

41.26%

3.77%

45.48%

41.14%

4.35%

Rural Schools

19.64%

31.89%-12.25%19.69%

31.94%-12.25%High Poverty Schools

15.21%

13.99%

1.22%

13.16%

11.39%

1.77%

Low Poverty Schools

26.63%

23.51%

3.13%

30.87%

26.58%

4.29%* National numbers were obtained from the National Center for Education Statistics, Elementary and Secondary Information System.

© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

6

SECTION 1: NATIONAL RESULTS
This section below describes the results on one measureof college attendance (enrollment) and two measuresof college success (persistence and graduation) for highschools that serve different student populations.

Enrollment
Immediate college enrollment is one of the many
important measures that high schools use to assess theirimpact on student academic success. Figure A shows therates of immediate college enrollment in the first fall after
high school graduation for the class of 2019 by different
school characteristics. Income was the strongest correlatewith immediate college enrollment. Students from higher
income schools were more likely to enroll immediately
than students from lower income schools (68 percent
and 55 percent, respectively). The gap became evenlarger when we examined this outcome for graduates ofhigh-poverty schools (where at least 75 percent of thestudent population was eligible for a free or reduced-pricelunch, or FRPL) and low-poverty schools (where less than
25 percent of their student population was eligible for
FRPL). A 20 percentage point difference exists between
high and low poverty schools (55 percent and 75 percent,respectively).

The school minority level was also a strong correlate.
Students from low minority high schools were more likely
to enroll immediately than those from high schools withhigher minority populations (67 percent and 58 percent,respectively). Location was not as strongly correlated,but still demonstrated some relationship with immediatecollege enrollment. Students from suburban schools (66percent) were more likely to immediately enroll than thosefrom urban (61 percent) or rural (60 percent) schools.
These patterns are consistent with the graduating class of2018 and when the data are expanded to include students
who delay their enrollment until the spring and summer
terms (enrollment in the first year) or the following year
(enrollment in the first two years) (see Appendix B,
Tables 2-6). Across all groups, enrollment rates increased
markedly when we counted all enrollments in the firsttwo years after graduation, compared to the first fall
enrollments. Students attending two-year institutions
drove most of the increases, which is not surprising as
two-year institutions generally allow more flexibility instart times.
Enrollments at out-of-state institutions were higher for
students from higher income and low minority highFigure A. College Enrollment Rates in the First Fall after High School Graduation, Class of 2019,
Public Non-Charter Schools

This figure is based on data shown in Appendix B, Table 1.

© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

7

schools. Seventeen percent of the college-going graduatesfrom higher income schools enrolled at out-of-state
institutions, compared to just five percent of those from
low income high schools. Seventeen percent of graduatesfrom low minority high schools enrolled in an out-of-state
institution, compared to just seven percent of graduatesfrom high minority high schools (see Appendix B, Table 1).

Persistence

return for their second year of college at the lowest rate
across all groups (78%). Students from low minority highschools had higher rates of persistence (87%) than thosefrom high minority high schools (81%). Students fromsuburban high schools (87%) persist at greater rates thanthose from rural (82%) and urban (83%) high schools.

Figure B presents persistence rates from the first to
second year of college for the high school graduating classof 2017, disaggregated by high school characteristics.
Persistence rate is the percentage of students who
returned to college (anywhere) at any time in thesecond year out of all students from a given high school
graduating class who enrolled at any time in the firstyear. Persistence rates for students from all types ofhigh schools presented in Figure B range from 78 to 88
percent. College-bound students from higher income
high schools show the highest persistence rate (88%), in
contrast to graduates from low income high schools, who

Regardless of high school type, persistence rates among
students who enrolled in private colleges and universities
were higher than those in public institutions. Persistence
rates for all students were also higher in four-year
institutions than in two-year institutions and at out-of-state
institutions versus in-state institutions (see Appendix B,
Table 7).

Figure B. Persistence Rates from First to Second Year of College, Class of 2017, Public Non-Charter Schools

This figure is based on data shown in Appendix B Table 7.

© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

8

Completion
The differences among students from different types ofhigh schools become most pronounced in the rates ofcollege completion. Figure C presents the rates of college
completion as a percentage of all students in the highschool graduating class, not just those who enrolled incollege. Again, income is the strongest correlate. Fifty-one
percent of all students from higher income high schools
in the class of 2013 completed a college degree within
six years of their graduation, compared to 28 percent ofstudents from low income schools. As it was the case in
the immediate college enrollment rates, the achievement
gap is even larger among graduates of high- and low-poverty schools. Only 23 percent of graduates from highpoverty high schools graduated college within six yearsof finishing high school, compared to 60 percent of low
poverty school graduates.
The relationship between college completion rates and theminority level of the school was also strong. Fifty percent
of students from low minority high schools completed
a college degree within six years, compared to only 31
percent from high minority schools. Students from urban
high schools lagged behind as well: 37 percent of students
from urban schools completed a degree within six yearsof graduation, compared to 41 percent from rural schools
and 47 percent from suburban schools.

Figure C. College Completion Rates Six Years after High School Graduation, Class of 2013,
Public Non-Charter Schools

This figure is based on data shown in Appendix B, Table 8.

Enrollment and Completion Rates by
School Minority and Income Levels
Figures D and E show postsecondary enrollment in thefirst year after high school completion (class of 2019) andcompletion rates (class of 2013) by school minority andincome levels combined. The results show that graduatesfrom high minority and low income high schools had thelowest rate of immediate college enrollment (55 percent),a gap of 14 percentage points from the highest rate
(69 percent), observed for students from low minority,
higher income high schools. Further, the outcome© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

differences between higher and low income levels, withineach minority level, were substantially larger than theoutcome differences between high and low minority levels,
within income. For example, in Figure D, the difference
in enrollment rate by income levels while keeping theminority status unchanged (e.g., within low minority
schools, 69 percent enrollment rate for higher income
schools versus 57 percent for low income schools) is
substantially larger than the difference in enrollment rateby minority levels while keeping the income level constant(e.g., within higher income schools, low minority schools’
69 percent enrollment rate versus high minority schools’

9

63 percent enrollment rate). In terms of six-year college
completion rates, graduates from high minority and low
income high schools had also the lowest rate (28 percent),a gap of 25 percentage points from the highest rate (53percent), observed for students from low minority, higher
income high schools (Figure E).

Figure D. College Enrollment Rates in the First Fall after High School Graduation,
Class of 2019, Public Non-Charter Schools, Controlling for Income and Minority Levels

This figure is based on data shown in Appendix B, Table 11.

Figure E. College Completion Rates Six Years after High School Graduation,
Class of 2013, Public Non-Charter Schools, Controlling for Income and Minority Levels

This figure is based on data shown in Appendix B, Table 12.
© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

10Top Categories of Majors at Immediate
College Enrollment and at Completion
In these analyses, we examined the patterns of majors at
immediate college enrollment and at completion for those
who enrolled in or completed a degree from two year orfour year schools separately. The results of these analyses
are presented in Appendix B. It is important to notethat the high school graduating classes used to compare
majors at immediate college enrollment versus majors atcompletion were not the same. Specifically, the high schoolclass of 2019 was used to examine majors at enrollment
whereas the high school class of 2013 was used to
examine majors at completion.
When examining the most common categories of majors
for graduates of low income and higher income highschools, the results showed that overall, there were only
small changes in the most common types of majors
declared at first enrollment in two-year institutions and

STEM Completion
Figure F presents the rates at which graduates fromdifferent types of high schools in the class of 2013
completed a STEM degree within six years of high school
graduation. The percentages of both minority and lowincome students in a school were strongly associatedwith STEM degree completion. Eighteen percent ofstudents from higher income schools, but only nine
percent of students from low income schools, completed
STEM degrees within six years of high school graduation.
Similarly, 17 percent of students from low minority highschools completed a STEM degree within six years,
compared to 10 percent of students from high minority© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

the most common types of majors students graduatedwith from two-year institutions. The most common majors
at both first enrollment and completion were in the
categories of liberal arts and sciences, general studies andhumanities followed by categories of health professions,and business. For students from higher income highschools, business majors were more common than healthprofessions majors in the first fall of enrollment, but
this student group graduates college with more healthprofessions majors than business majors.
For the four-year sector, the results showed that the mostcommon majors declared at initial college enrollment,
regardless of whether the student graduated from higher
income or low income high schools, was in the liberal artsand sciences, general studies and humanities category.
The most common majors at completion, however, werein the business, management, marketing, and related
support category.

schools. The relationship between high school locationand STEM degree completion was less pronounced.
Sixteen percent of students from suburban high schools
completed STEM degrees, compared to 12 percent ofstudents from rural and 13 percent from urban highschools.
Figure F presents the number students attaining degrees
as a percentage of the number that graduated high school.
The definition of STEM used in this analysis is based on alisting of six-digit CIP codes used by the National Science
Foundation and includes social sciences and psychology(for a complete list, see Appendix A).

11

Figure F. College Completion Rates Six Years after High School Graduation, STEM Field of Study, Class of
2013, Public Non-Charter Schools

This figure is based on data shown in Appendix B, Table 9.
Figure G shows STEM degree completion by field ofstudy and reveals further patterns of disparities among
students from different types of high schools within thegroup of STEM completers. The majority of STEM degrees
for students from both low income (47 percent) and highminority (48 percent) high schools are awarded in either
psychology or the social sciences, compared to 38 percent
for those from higher income and 38 percent for thosefrom low minority schools.

Figure G. Distribution of Fields of Study among STEM Completers, Class of 2013, Public Non-Charter Schools

This figure is based on data shown in Appendix B, Table 10.
© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

12

SECTION 2: RESULTS BY HIGH SCHOOL TYPE
(FOR USE BY INDIVIDUAL HIGH SCHOOLS)
Proportion of students on free or reduced-price lunch
Higher Income Schools

Low Income Schools

Low Poverty Schools
0%High Poverty Schools
25%

Guidance on How to Interpretthe Outcomes in this Section
This section provides detailed results for schools in low
income and higher income categories as well as in highpoverty and low poverty categories. Section 2 is intended
for use by individual high schools as benchmarks against
which to compare their own results.
Outcomes are provided in two different ways: studentweighted totals and school percentile distributions.
Tables with student-weighted totals are designed toenable individual schools and districts to compare
their StudentTracker results directly to the national
benchmarks. Totals are calculated by computing the mean
among all schools within the category, weighted by the

Results Tables & Figures■

Public Non-Charter High Schools
https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/
uploads/HSBR2020_PUBLIC_NONCHARTER_SCHOOLS-7-groups.xlsx—

Public Non-Charter High Schools
by Poverty Level
https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/
uploads/HSBR2020_PUBLIC_NONCHARTER_SCHOOLS_BY_POVERTY-2-groups.xlsx© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

50%

75%

100%

size of each school’s graduating class. By placing theirown results into the context of these aggregate totals,
practitioners can better understand the meaning of theirstudents’ college access and persistence outcomes.
Tables with school percentile distributions are designed
to enable individual schools and districts to identify theapproximate percentile rank of their students’ collegegoing rate. These distributions are calculated by ranking
schools on the outcome without considering school sizeor the number of graduates. Thus, if a school’s collegegoing rate is the same as the rate at the 75th percentile,
the school is said to have a college-going rate equal toor higher than that of 75 percent of all StudentTracker
schools in that category.

■

Public Charter High Schools
https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/
uploads/HSBR2020_PUBLIC_CHARTER_SCHOOLS.xlsx■

Private High Schools
https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/
uploads/HSBR2020_PRIVATE_SCHOOLS.xlsx

13

APPENDIX A: METHODOLOGICAL NOTESThis report contains college enrollment, persistence
and completion outcomes of high school graduating
students. The results presented in the report center on
the following outcomes:
1) College enrollment in the—first fall after high school graduation;—

first year after high school graduation; and—first two years after high school graduation

2) Persistence from the first to the second yearof college.
3) College completion within six years after highschool graduation.
The outcomes are presented by type of college attended,
including public and private institutions, two-year and fouryear institutions, and in-state and out-of-state institutions.
These characteristics are defined by IPEDS Institutional
Characteristics data as of 2018-19. In-state designations
are defined relative to the state in which the high school islocated, not the residency of individual students.

The high school dataset used for this report is based on
a voluntary sample and is not a nationally representative
sample of schools or of high school graduates. High school
diploma data are submitted to the National Student
Clearinghouse (the Clearinghouse) by schools and districts
that participate in the StudentTracker for High Schools(STHS) service. High schools participating in this service
pay a small fee (typically $425) to receive a packet ofreports with postsecondary access and success outcomes
for their graduating classes. In general, the participating
schools tend to have greater representation among
schools with lower income, higher minority enrollments,
and urban locales.
This report is based on the data submitted to theClearinghouse on graduating classes of 2013, 2016, 2017,2018, and 2019. Table A1 below shows the number ofparticipating high schools and high school graduates
included in this report compared to the total number of
US high schools and high school graduates. All types ofhigh schools, including both public and private schools,
participate in the Clearinghouse STHS service.

Table A1. Number of public, non-charter high schools, and public, non-charter high school graduates
included in the report*

Academic year1

Number ofparticipatinghigh schools

Percent of
all US publichigh schools2

Percent of US
grade 12enrollment
represented3

Total N (Numberof graduates inparticipatinghigh schools)

2012-2013

6,390

38%

49%

1,421,491

2015-2016

6,636

39%

50%

1,495,904

2016-2017

6,664

39%

51%

1,495,059

2017-2018

6,642

39%

50%

1,534,426

2018-2019

6,111

36%

46%

1,414,830

1 Academic year is defined as the period between September 1-August 31.
2 The total number of schools used in the denominator of this calculation was obtained from NCES’ Elementary and Secondary Information
System (ELSi). The public school information is available from the Common Core of Data through 2018-19.
3 The numbers used in both the denominator and numerator of this calculation were obtained from NCES’ Elementary and Secondary
Information System (ELSi). Grade 12 enrollment information is available from the Common Core of Data through 2018-19.

© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

14

Table A2. Number of public, charter high schools and public, charter high school graduates included in thereport*Academic year1

Number ofparticipatinghigh schools

Percent of
all US publichigh schools2

Percent of US
grade 12enrollment
represented3

Total N (Numberof graduates inparticipatinghigh schools)

2012-2013

451

25%

29%

32,546

2015-2016

551

26%

34%

46,957

2016-2017

602

28%

32%

50,0092017-2018

631

28%

32%

52,795

2018-2019

534

23%

26%

44,754

1 Academic year is defined as the period between September 1-August 31.
2 The total number of schools used in the denominator of this calculation was obtained from NCES’ Elementary and Secondary Information
System (ELSi). The public school information is available from the Common Core of Data through 2018-19.
3 The numbers used in both the denominator and numerator of this calculation were obtained from NCES’ Elementary and Secondary
Information System (ELSi). Grade 12 enrollment information is available from the Common Core of Data through 2018-19.

Table A3. Number of private high schools and private high school graduates included in the report*

Academic year1

Number ofparticipatinghigh schools

Percent of all
US private
high schools2

Percent of US
grade 12enrollment
represented3

Total N (Numberof graduates inparticipatinghigh schools)

2012-2013

454

8%

24%

57,634

2015-2016

355

7%

20%

44,9392016-2017

338

7%

20%

42,7432017-2018

320

6%

17%

39,9932018-2019

212

4%

11%

28,3291 Academic year is defined as the period between September 1-August 31.
2 The total number of schools used in the denominator of this calculation was obtained from NCES’ Elementary and Secondary Information
System (ELSi). The private school information is available from the Private School Survey, which is collected every two years through2017-18. The number of private schools for intermediate years are estimates, equal to the number from the prior available year.
3 The numbers used in both the denominator and numerator of this calculation were obtained from NCES’ Elementary and Secondary
Information System (ELSi). Grade 12 enrollment information is available from the Private School Survey, which is collected every two years
through 2017-18. The numbers for intermediate years are estimates, equal to the numbers from the prior available year.

© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

15

Definitions of Public, Non-Charter
High School Categories
We used the Common Core of Data (CCD) to construct the
sampling frame of schools. The CCD is the Department of
Education’s primary database on public elementary andsecondary education in the United States. From the CCD,
we created a sample frame that contains all regular publicschools with a 12th grade.
In order to enable public, non-charter high schools tocompare their own outcomes with those of similar highschools, the outcomes in this report are presented on
the basis of school-level characteristics: low income andhigher income; high minority and low minority; and urban,
suburban, or rural. Membership in these categories
for each academic year is based on CCD data for thecorresponding year.
Low-income schools are defined as schools where atleast 50 percent of the entire student population (not justgraduating seniors) is eligible for free or reduced-pricelunch. Minority schools are defined as those schools© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

where at least 40 percent of the students are Black or
Hispanic. Locale is defined by the NCES urban-centric
locale code. Schools with a code from 11 to 13 are definedas urban. Schools with a code from 21 to 23 are defined as
suburban. And those with a code 31 to 43, covering bothtown and rural areas, are defined as rural.
Combinations of these characteristics results in sevengroups of high schools. Thus, the outcomes are presented
for the following categories of high schools:■

Low income schools■

Higher income schools■

Low minority schools■

High minority schools■

Urban schools■

Suburban schools■

Rural schools

16

Table A4. Number of public, non-charter high schools and public, non-charter high school graduates
included in the report by category of high schoolsGroup

Low Income
Schools

Higher Income
Schools

High Minority
Schools

Low Minority
Schools

Urban Schools

SuburbanSchools

Rural Schools

Academic year

Number ofparticipatinghigh schools

Percent of
US grade 12
enrollment
represented# of states
represented

Total N
(Number ofGraduates insample)2012-2013

2,493

50%

51

504,641

2015-2016

2,645

51%

48

566,136

2016-2017

2,565

53%

45

555,375

2017-2018

2,613

51%

46

577,047

2018-2019

2,435

48%

45

542,5072012-2013

3,897

49%

52

916,850

2015-2016

3,991

50%

51

929,768

2016-2017

4,099

50%

51

939,684

2017-2018

4,029

49%

51

957,379

2018-2019

3,676

44%

51

872,323

2012-2013

2,120

57%

42

567,099

2015-2016

2,327

58%

42

641,552

2016-2017

2,325

59%

43

643,353

2017-2018

2,353

58%

42

679,853

2018-2019

2,180

53%

42

646,460

2012-2013

4,270

45%

51

854,392

2015-2016

4,309

46%

50

854,352

2016-2017

4,339

46%

51

851,706

2017-2018

4,289

45%

51

854,573

2018-2019

3,931

40%

51

768,370

2012-2013

1,747

64%

51

482,3192015-2016

1,829

65%

48

501,809

2016-2017

1,864

65%

48

504,4632017-2018

1,881

64%

48

518,676

2018-2019

1,757

60%

47

490,067

2012-2013

1,904

54%

49

655,260

2015-2016

1,990

56%

48

693,206

2016-2017

1,993

56%

48

684,4012017-2018

1,959

55%

48

701,9272018-2019

1,772

50%

47

645,456

2012-2013

2,739

30%

51

283,912

2015-2016

2,817

31%

50

300,889

2016-2017

2,807

32%

49

306,195

2017-2018

2,802

32%

50

313,8232018-2019

2,582

28%

50

279,307© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

17

The numbers used in both the denominator andnumerator of this calculation were obtained from NCES’
Elementary and Secondary Information System (ELSi). The
denominator is the number of grade 12 enrollments forall schools in a particular category of high schools. The
numerator is the number of grade 12 enrollments forparticipating public high schools in the category. Grade
12 enrollment information is available from the Common
Core of Data through 2018-19.

In addition to our standard results for schools in low
income and higher income categories, the report alsopresents postsecondary outcomes for graduates froma subset of low income schools defined as high-poverty
schools and a subset of higher income schools defined as
low-poverty schools. High poverty schools are defined as
those where at least 75 percent of the student population
is eligible for free or reduced price lunch. Low poverty
schools are defined as those where less than 25 percentof the student population is eligible for free or reduced
price lunch.

Table A5. Number of public, non-charter high schools and public, non-charter high school graduates inhigh poverty and low poverty schools included in the report by category

Group

High Poverty
Schools

Low Poverty
Schools

Academic year

Number ofparticipatinghigh schools

Percent of
US grade 12
enrollment
represented# of states
represented

Total N
(Number ofGraduates insample)2012-2013

1,039

57%

47

177,629

2015-2016

1,141

56%

44

209,537

2016-2017

1,114

56%

42

207,599

2017-2018

1,175

53%

43

217,243

2018-2019

1,082

49%

39

207,649

2012-2013

1,596

57%

51

454,8022015-2016

1,537

60%

50

435,095

2016-2017

1,510

59%

46

423,283

2017-2018

1,512

58%

47

426,445

2018-2019

1,392

52%

47

384,653

The numbers used in both the denominator andnumerator of this calculation were obtained from NCES’
Elementary and Secondary Information System (ELSi). The
denominator is the number of grade 12 enrollments forall schools in a particular category of high schools. The
numerator is the number of grade 12 enrollments forparticipating public high schools in the category. Grade
12 enrollment information is available from the Common
Core of Data through 2018-19.

Postsecondary Data
College enrollment, persistence, and completion
outcomes are determined by matching the graduate
files received from high schools each year, to thepostsecondary enrollment data held by the National
Student Clearinghouse. The National Student
Clearinghouse is a unique and trusted source for higher© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

education enrollment and degree verification. Currently,
Clearinghouse data include 3,600 postsecondary
institutions and 97 percent of U.S. postsecondary
enrollments (for detailed coverage of postsecondary
enrollments see Appendix C). Because the database iscomprised of student-level data, researchers can use it
to link concurrent as well as consecutive enrollments ofindividual students at multiple institutions — a capability
that distinguishes the Clearinghouse data from national
databases built with institution-level data.
In order to preserve comparability to the reports that
schools and districts receive on their graduates’ college
access, persistence, and completion rates through theClearinghouse’s StudentTracker service, results havenot been adjusted to account for a student’s outcome
not being captured due to noncoverage by
Clearinghouse data.
18

Definitions of Outcomes

STEM College Completions

College enrollment in the first fall after high school
graduation: Percentage of high school students who
enrolled in a two- or four- year postsecondary institution
in the fall semester immediately following graduation. The
fall semester immediately following graduation is defined
as any enrollment that occurs between August 15 andOctober 31.

Analysis is based on degree records that were awarded
to students within six years of high school graduation.
Only associate’s, bachelor’s, and advanced degrees
are considered. Certificates are not included. The fieldof study, whenever reported by the postsecondary
institution, is mapped to the NCES’ Classification ofInstructional Programs (CIP) code. NCES classifies
instructional programs by a six-digit CIP code at the most
granular level and organizes them into CIP families by their
two-digit prefix.

College enrollment in the first year after high school
graduation: Percentage of high school students who
enrolled in a two- or four-year postsecondary institution
in the academic year immediately following graduation.
The first year after high school includes any enrollmentthat occurs between August 15 of the graduation year andAugust 14 of the following year.
College enrollment in the first two years after high school
graduation: Percentage of high school students who
enrolled in a two- or four-year postsecondary institution in
the first two years following graduation. The first two years
after high school includes any enrollment that occurs
between August 15 of the graduation year and August 14of the second year.
Persistence from first to second year of college:
Percentage of students enrolled in the first year after
high school graduation who remained enrolled in
postsecondary education in the second year. This is
the percentage of students who re-enrolled at any
postsecondary institution, not necessarily the same
one they started in. Thus, it is different from the typicalmeasure of retention at the same institution.

The definition of STEM (science, technology, engineering,and math) used in this analysis is based on a listing of sixdigit CIP codes used by the National Science Foundation,and it includes the following disciplines:■

Biological and Agricultural Sciences■

Computer Sciences■

Earth, Atmospheric, and Ocean Sciences■

Engineering■

Mathematics■

Physical Sciences■

Psychology■

Social Sciences

If a student is awarded more than one degree and at least
one of them is in a STEM discipline, the earliest STEM
degree is considered for this analysis.

College completion within six years after high school
graduation: Percentage of high school students who
attained a degree in a two- or four-year postsecondary
institution in the six academic years immediately following
graduation. Only associate’s, bachelor’s, and advanced
degrees are counted in these rates. Certificates are
not included.

© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

19

APPENDIX B: FULL RESULT TABLES

https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/HSBR2020-Appendix-B-Full-Tables-Field-of-Study-Results.xlsx
https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/HSBR2020-Appendix-B-Full-Tables-Overall-Results.xlsx

APPENDIX C: POSTSECONDARY COVERAGE TABLES

https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/HSBR2020-Appendix-C-Postsecondary-Coverage.xlsx© 2020 National Student Clearinghouse. All rights reserved.

20