Hunter
05/04/24
A coding error discovered in the way the Iowa Department of Education calculated graduation rates overinflated those figures for at least 10 years.
The Gazette reports correcting the error dropped many area school districts’ 2022 graduation rates by several percentage points. The Cedar Rapids Community School District 2022 graduation rate, for example, was originally reported as 80.3 percent, but has been corrected to 76.8 percent.
Data was incorrect due to students who transferred between school districts and later dropped out. Those students were removed from the database rather than included as part of the non-graduate numbers.
The Department of Education’s Information and Analysis Services team says the error has been corrected. The graduation rate for the state’s class of 2023 is accurate at 87.5 percent. It’s lower than previous years because of the coding error.