Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 28 - EDUCATION › Part XI - Accountability/Testing › Subpart 1 - Bulletin 111-The Louisiana School, District, and State Accountability System › Chapter 7 - Graduation Cohort, Index, and Rate [Formerly Chapter 6] › Section XI-703 - Determining a Cohort for a Graduation [Formerly Section 603]

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. A cohort of
				  students is all students who entered 9th grade for the first time in the state
				  of Louisiana in a given academic year.
B. Each cohort of students will be tracked
				  for four years, from entry as first-time ninth graders through four academic
				  years. Transitional ninth graders will enter automatically the first-time ninth
				  grade cohort in the year after enrolling in transitional ninth grade.
C. Students who exit Louisianas student
				  information system (SIS) system in fewer than four years for legitimate reasons
				  shall not be included in the cohort's graduation index calculations.
1. For graduation cohort calculations, exit
				  codes 07, 10, 14, 16, and 20 from
				  §611 are legitimate, along with any
				  special codes created to deal with natural disasters.
2. Beginning with accountability decisions
				  made in fall 2010 (using 2009 grad data), the only legitimate leavers from a
				  cohort are those who:
a. transfer from
				  Louisiana K-12 public education to a diploma awarding school or
				  program;
b. emigrate to another
				  country;
c. are deceased.
3. Specific documentation is
				  required for students to be considered legitimate leavers.
a. The only acceptable documentation for
				  transfers to out-of-state or approved non-public school diploma awarding
				  schools is a request for student records from the qualifying school or program,
				  a letter from an official in the receiving school or program acknowledging
				  student enrollment, or a note written and signed by the parent including a
				  reason for exit that confirms the exit type used to remove student from
				  enrollment.
b. Documentation for a
				  student transfer to home school is an official document from LDE indicating
				  approval dated before October 1 following the students exit from the Louisiana
				  SIS.
c. Students who emigrate to
				  another country must be documented with a statement signed by a parent, a
				  request for student records, or an approved application for participation in a
				  foreign exchange program which verifies dates of enrollment.
d. An obituary or a letter from a parent is
				  sufficient documentation for a deceased student.
4. The LDE shall maintain and post on the LDE
				  website a list of schools that are considered "non-diploma awarding."
5. A school is classified as "non-diploma
				  awarding" if it:
a. awards fewer than five
				  regular diplomas a year for two consecutive years; or
b. enrolls fewer than 10 twelfth graders for
				  a full academic year for each of two consecutive years;
c. the LDE can grant exceptions to these
				  rules for new schools and schools with small populations upon district request
				  if it can be determined that no circumvention of accountability consequences
				  will occur. The district is responsible for providing any data requested by the
				  LDE.