Raising the Cap Series 
Indicator 2
Percent of youth with IEPs dropping out of high school.
Defining a Dropout
- Was enrolled in school sometime during the previous year.
- Was not enrolled at the reporting time of the current school year (traditional 3rd Friday count).
- Has not graduated from high school (or completed a state or district approved education program).
- Does not meet any of the following exclusionary conditions: transfer to another school, temporary absence, deceased.
- Students who complete the spring semester of the previous school year, but are not enrolled by the third Friday in September of the current school year are considered summer dropouts or “no shows.” Summer dropouts are not counted as dropouts for the previous year.
- A dropout would be counted for the current school year if the student is not re-enrolled by the count date of the following school year.
Dropout Rates in Wisconsin of SwD and SwoD: The Dropout Rates in Wisconsin of students with disabilities (SwD) and students without disabilities (SwoD) demonstrate students with disabilities are dropping out of school at a higher rate than their non-disabled peers. In fact, the dropout rate for students with disabilities is two times that of students without disabilities.
Dropout Rates in Wisconsin By Race: The Dropout Rates in Wisconsin by race show a large discrepancy between white youth and their black, American Indian, and Hispanic peers. Currently in Wisconsin, we are seeing black student’s dropout at a rate 6 times higher than their white peers, American Indian students dropout at a rate 3 times higher than their white peers, and Hispanic youth dropout at a rate 3 times higher than their white peers.
Suggested trends of dropout data to view include:
- Suggested 5 years of dropout data
- Comparison of SwD and SwoD
- Comparison of students by race
Also include a review of the names of students who have dropped out when viewing your data.
The use of data allows district teams to make informed decisions about the interventions that can help to decrease drop-out rates for subgroups of students within their district. Indicator 2 data can be viewed on the DPI Public Portal. Districts can also view their data on their WISE Dash 2.0 secure home. Note that the Public Portal redacts all identifying student information as well as information if there is a cell size of 5 or less.