What does this measure?

The number of students who transferred from a regular high school program to a GED program, as a percentage of their cohort. A GED program prepares students for the tests required to earn the General Educational Development credential, which certifies that a student has demonstrated a level of knowledge equal to or greater than 40% of graduating high school seniors. The cohort is the class of ninth-graders beginning high school together.

Why is this important?

A GED offers students who did not make it through high school a credential allowing them to pursue higher education and/or certain other careers. While this data does not show the number of students actually obtaining GEDs, it’s an indication of how many students were pursuing this alternative path out of high school toward a productive future instead of dropping out.

How is the Greater Capital Region performing?

In the region, about 2% of the class of 2007 had transferred to GED programs by the time their class was eligible to graduate (after four years of high school), compared to a state rate of about 1%. Schenectady County, which had the lowest graduation rates in the region, had the highest rate of students transferring to GED programs, ranging from 5% to 7%. Regional and state GED transfer rates have remained consistent for the last three cohorts.

Notes about the data

Data for earlier years were not comparable because cohorts were not tracked in the same way.