Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 28 - EDUCATION › Part LXXXIII - Bulletin 111-The Louisiana School, District, and State Accountability System › Chapter 6 - Graduation Cohort, Index, and Rate › Section LXXXIII-603 - Determining a Cohort for a Graduation

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 Louisiana's 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 other diploma awarding schools or programs is a request for
				student records from the qualifying school or program, or a letter from an
				official in the receiving school or program acknowledging the students
				enrollment. The documentation must be clearly dated before October 1 following
				the student's exit from the Louisiana Student Information System (SIS). The LDE
				can, during data certification and audits, require proof that the school or
				program is recognized as a "diploma awarding" by the state in which it is
				located.
b. Documentation for a
				student transfer to home school is a school withdrawal form with parent
				signature and an LDE letter of approval to the parent, both dated before
				October 1 following the student's exit from the Louisiana SIS.
c. Students who emigrate to another country
				must be documented with a statement signed by a parent or a request for student
				records.
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.