Introduction

Educators help students make adequate growth year over year so that they can advance to the next grade level adequately prepared — and ultimately graduate from high school in a timely manner, prepared for postsecondary school. In order to transition successfully from one stage of education to the next, a student must have the appropriate skills, coursework, credits, and knowledge. Credit-related metrics help identify students who may be falling short in any of these areas, and who are thus in need of additional support.

Monitoring completion of coursework required at each grade level is one of the most straightforward mechanisms for determining whether a student is on track for promotion. Research has demonstrated that on-time coursework completion, combined with attendance and grades, is a highly predictive measure of graduation and commonly used to identify at-risk students in both the middle and high school grades. 

At the high school level, tracking the level of credits earned along with state exam proficiency determines whether a student is on track to meet their required graduation requirements and ultimately complete high school on time. Ensuring that all young people graduate from high school is one of the most important responsibilities of the K–12 system. Graduation rate is a critical "high-stakes" measure commonly used by policy makers, educators and communities as an indicator of school success. 

Related Metrics

The following metrics are documented in this section: