The 2022 California School Dashboard, restarted for the first time since 2019, showed that California’s four and five-year high school graduation rates hit all-time highs in 2021–22, while the state’s chronic absenteeism rate mirrored national trends. The dashboard is a key component of the state’s school accountability system, which includes the latest data on graduation rates, suspension rates, test scores, English learner progress, chronic absenteeism and local indicators.

The four-year “cohort” graduation rate – which measures the number of students who started as ninth graders and graduated with their peers four years later – climbed to 87%, up from 83.6 % in 2020–21. Every student group showed improvement. Acknowledging high school staff challenges in calculating and assigning grades in the earliest months of the pandemic, the state enacted AB 104, altering some specific policies to help students earn their diplomas. The graduation rates likely reflect those accommodations designed to give a boost to students most impacted by COVID-19.

Other data show a decline in the suspension rate compared to 2018–19, and an increase in the percentage of English language learners making progress toward language acquisition over pre-pandemic levels.

The dashboard also includes information on test scores, and takes into account whether the federally required 95% of eligible students participated in assessments.

The chronic absenteeism rate, which measures the number of students who missed 10 percent of the days they were enrolled for any reason, increased from 14.3 percent in 2020–21 to 30 percent in 2021–22, mirroring trends in other states for a year when COVID-19 continued to affect attendance.

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and the California Department of Education are working with districts to find solutions to counter chronic absenteeism. The CDE has put out guidance to give resources and best practices to school districts on ways to counter chronic absenteeism and will launch a new attendance webinar series in January.

For information, visit cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/cm/dashboardresources.asp.