A cohort is a group of students who enter 9^th grade during the same school year.

In New Jersey, all first-time 9^th graders are assigned to a cohort. During high school, the cohort is adjusted each year to add verified transfers in and subtract verified transfers out.

The adjusted cohort is the group of students who remain in the cohort after these adjustments are made. Any students who drop out during high school and any students who are still enrolled remain in the adjusted cohort for graduation rate calculations.

In New Jersey, a student receives a state-endorsed diploma if the student meets both the state’s course requirements and graduation assessment requirements (based on the year of graduation), as well as any local district requirements, such as local attendance requirements.

Under New Jersey law, students with disabilities whose Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) include modifications or exemptions to graduation assessment, course, or local attendance requirements can still earn a state-endorsed diploma.

Additionally, students in New Jersey can earn a state-issued diploma by passing a high school equivalency test, but these students are not required to meet the graduation assessment, course, and local attendance requirements.

For federal reporting and accountability purposes, ESSA only allows students who receive a diploma that is fully aligned with the state’s standards, meaning they have met the state’s graduation assessment, course, and local attendance requirements, to be included as graduates in the calculation of the adjusted cohort graduation rate.

This means that students with disabilities who earn a state-endorsed diploma, but did not meet some or all graduation requirements because of modifications or exemptions in their IEPs, cannot be counted as graduates in the federal version of the adjusted cohort graduation rate calculation.

All students who receive a state-endorsed diploma, regardless of exemptions in their IEPs, will still be considered as graduates for state reporting purposes and districts should continue to report these students as graduated in NJ SMART.

Change to the ACGR Calculation

Prior to 2021, all students earning state-endorsed diplomas were counted as graduates in the calculation of the adjusted cohort graduation rate. New Jersey was required to make changes beginning in 2021 as a result of a performance review by USED.

Beginning in 2021, students with disabilities receiving a state-endorsed diploma who did not meet all requirements for graduation (state course requirements, state assessment requirements, and local attendance requirements) because of a modification or exemption in their IEP are excluded from the graduate count in the federal version of the adjusted cohort graduation rate calculation.

Districts report in NJ SMART whether students with disabilities have met state course or local attendance requirements. Districts also report how all students meet the graduation assessment requirements for English language arts (ELA) and mathematics.

The adjusted cohort graduation rate measures how many of the students who entered ninth grade end up graduating. New Jersey measures and reports on four-year, five-year, and six-year adjusted cohort graduation rates. The number of students identified as graduates in the calculation depends on whether calculating the federal or state version of the adjusted cohort graduation rate.

Four-year ACGR

The four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate measures the percentage of students in the adjusted cohort who graduate by the end of four years. This includes students who graduate in less than four years.

$\text{4-year graduation rate}=\frac{\text{4-year graduates}}{\text{adjusted cohort at the end of 4 years}}$

Five-year ACGR

The five-year adjusted cohort graduation rate measures the percentage of students in the adjusted cohort who graduate by the end of five years. This includes students who graduate in four years or less.

$\text{5-year graduation rate}=\frac{\text{4-year }+ \text{ 5-year graduates}}{\text{adjusted cohort at the end of 5 years}}$

Six-year ACGR

Similarly, the six-year adjusted cohort graduation rate measures the percentage of students in the adjusted cohort who graduate by the end of six years. This includes students who graduate in five years or less.

$\text{6-year graduation rate}=\frac{\text{4-year }+\text{ 5-year }+\text{ 6-year graduates}}{\text{adjusted cohort at the end of 6 years}}$

Students who drop out and students who remain enrolled without receiving a state-endorsed diploma (including students with disabilities who remain enrolled until the age of 21) will count in the denominator, but not in the numerator.

Beginning with 2021, the NJDOE began reporting both a state graduation rate and a federal graduation rate.

State Graduation Rate

The state graduation rate includes all students earning a state-endorsed diploma as graduates (the numerator), which will align with graduation rates reported prior to 2021.

Federal Graduation Rate

The federal graduation rate is aligned with ESSA requirements and only includes students earning a state-endorsed diploma who have met the state course requirements, local attendance requirements, and, depending on the year of graduation, the state graduation assessment requirements as graduates (the numerator). The federal graduation rate will be used for federal reporting and ESSA school accountability.

School A has 100 first-time 9^th graders in 2017-18. These students are assigned to cohort 2021 because they are expected to graduate in four years at the end of the 2020-21 school year.

Starting in 2017-18, the initial 2021 cohort is 100 students.

Between 2017-18 and 2020-21:

• 5 students transfer in. They are added to the cohort.
• 3 students transfer out. They are removed from the cohort.
• 4 students drop out. They remain in the cohort.
• 95 students graduate by the end of the 2020-21 school year.
  • 2 of the 95 graduates are students with disabilities who did not meet course requirements because of modifications or exemptions in their IEP.

4-year Adjusted Cohort

$\text{4-year adjusted cohort}=100(\text{initial cohort)}+5(\text{transfers in})-3(\text{transfers out})=102$

4-year State ACGR

$\text{4-year graduation rate (State)}=\frac{95(\text{4-year graduates based on state requirements})}{102(\text{4-year adjusted cohort)}}=93.1\%$

4-year Federal ACGR

$\text{4-year graduation rate (Federal)}=\frac{93(\text{4-year graduates based on federal requirements})}{102(\text{4-year adjusted cohort)}}=91.2\%$

Explanation

93.1% of students in cohort 2021 graduated within four years, this is the state-version of the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate.

91.2% of students in cohort 2021 graduated within four year and met all graduation assessment, course, and local graduation requirements, this is the federal version of the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate.

The difference between the state and federal versions of the 4-year graduation rate calculation is that the two students with disabilities who did not meet course requirements because of modifications or exemptions in their IEP are not included in the count of 4-year year graduates (the numerator) in the federal version. The adjusted cohort (the denominator) remains the same in both calculations.

Continuing the example from the previous section, School A has an adjusted cohort of 102 at the start of 2021-22.

During 2021-22:

• 2 more students transfer in. They are added to the cohort.
• 1 more student transfers out. He is removed from the cohort.
• 2 more students drop out. They remain in the cohort.
• 3 more students graduate by the end of the 2021-22 school year.
  • 1 of the 3 additional graduates is a student with disabilities who met alternate graduation assessments requirements specified in their IEP.

5-year Adjusted Cohort

$\text{5-year adjusted cohort}=102(\text{4-year adjusted cohort)}+2(\text{transfers in})-1(\text{transfer out})=103$

5-year State ACGR

$\text{5-year graduation rate (State)}=\frac{95+3(\text{4- and 5-year graduates based on state requirements})}{103(\text{5-year adjusted cohort)}}=95.1\%$

5-year Federal ACGR

$\text{5-year graduation rate (Federal)}=\frac{93+2(\text{4- and 5-year graduates based on federal requirements})}{103(\text{5-year adjusted cohort)}}=92.2\%$

Explanation

95.1% of students in cohort 2021 graduated within five years, this is the state-version of the five-year adjusted cohort graduation rate.

92.2% of students in cohort 2021 graduated within five years and met all graduation assessment, course, and local graduation requirements, this is the federal version of the five-year adjusted cohort graduation rate.

Six-year adjusted cohort graduation rates will be calculated similarly to five-year adjusted cohort graduation rates but will also include adjustments to the cohort in year six and include any students who graduate by the end of six years.

Note: Five-year and six-year graduation rates are typically higher than four-year graduation rates, but it’s possible for them to be lower depending on how the cohort changes during year five or six.

In the example above, if five students transferred in instead of two students:

$\text{5-year adjusted cohort}=102(\text{4-year adjusted cohort)}+5(\text{transfers in})-1(\text{transfer out})=106$

$\text{5-year graduation rate (State)}=\frac{98}{106}=92.5\%$

In this case, the 5-year graduation rate is lower than the 4-year rate of 93.1%.