I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2862 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish 
an accurate and reliable graduation rate for measuring student academic 
achievement. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 26, 2007 
Mr. CASTLE (for himself and Mr. MCKEON) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 to establish an accurate and reliable graduation 
rate for measuring student academic achievement. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reliable and Accurate 
Graduation Rate Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. CREATING A RELIABLE AND ACCURATE GRADUA-
TION RATE TO IMPROVE THE ACADEMIC 
ACHIEVEMENT OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS. 
Section 1111 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (b)(2)— 
(A) in subparagraph (C)(vi) by striking 
‘‘as the percentage of students who graduate 
from secondary school with a regular diploma in 
the standard number of years’’ and inserting 
‘‘in subparagraph (K)’’; 
(B) by redesignating subparagraph (K) as 
subparagraph (M); and 
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (J) 
the following: 
‘‘(K) GRADUATION RATE.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose 
of this section, a State shall calculate its 
graduation rate by dividing the number of 
students in the school or local educational 
agency who receive a regular diploma by 
the number of first time ninth-grade stu-
dents who enrolled in the school or local 
educational agency four years earlier, tak-
ing into account— 
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‘‘(I) the movement of students 
transferring into and out of the school 
or local educational agency, docu-
mented through such evidence as a 
transcript, over the four-year period; 
and 
‘‘(II) the limited one time identi-
fication of recently arrived limited 
English proficient students, students 
with documented enrollment in a fully 
articulated early college high school, 
and children with disabilities who re-
quire a fifth year to receive a regular 
high school diploma. 
‘‘(ii) SCHOOLS
AND
LOCAL
EDU-
CATIONAL
AGENCIES.—A State shall re-
quire 
local 
educational 
agencies 
and 
schools in the State to calculate its gradua-
tion rate consistent with clause (i). 
‘‘(L) ADDITIONAL COMPLETION MEASURES 
FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ALTERNATIVE 
SETTINGS.—A State may publish and report 
additional completion measures for those stu-
dents who completed high school or some equiv-
alent measure in more than four years. Such 
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measures could include those students that 
dropped out of high school and passed a Gen-
eral Educational Development exam or trans-
ferred to an alternative school and successfully 
completed their education, or those children 
with disabilities who completed their edu-
cational program in more than five years.’’. 
Æ 
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