Each year, the Office of Research and Evaluation publishes a brief on high school graduation rates in the City of Philadelphia, including rates for District, Alternative, and Charter sectors. The annual briefs focus on four-year graduation rates, or “on time” graduation. This brief complements the 2021-22 graduation brief by presenting the 2021-22 outcomes for students at District and Alternative schools who did not graduate from high school in four years.

There are four possible outcomes that may be assigned to each student in a 9th-grade cohort at the end of the summer (September 30) following their fourth year of high school.

1. Graduate: The student received a diploma by the end of the summer after their fourth year of high school.
2. Continuing: The student is enrolled in a District or Alternative school to continue for a fifth year.
3. Dropout: The student is not enrolled in any school and has discontinued their high school education.
4. Non-drop departure (transfers): The student has transferred outside the District and Alternative sectors.

This brief provides basic statistics on the percentages of students who did not graduate or transfer—in particular, those considered to have outcomes of “continuing” or “dropout.”