R277-419-9. High School Completion Status

  (1) An LEA shall account for the final status of all students who enter high school (grades 9-12) whether they graduate or leave high school for other reasons, using the following decision rules to indicate the high school completion or exit status of each student who leaves the Utah public education system:

  (a) graduates are students who earn a basic high school diploma by satisfying one of the options consistent with Subsection R277-705-4(2) or out-of-school youths of school age who complete adult education secondary diploma requirements consistent with R277-733;

  (b) completers are students who have not satisfied Utah's requirements for graduation but who:

  (i) are in membership in twelfth grade on the last day of the school year; and

  (ii)(A) meet any additional criteria established by an LEA consistent with its authority under Section R277-705-4;

  (B) meet any criteria established for special education students under Utah State Board of Education Special Education Rules, Revised, June 2016, and available at: http://www.schools.utah.gov/sars/Laws.aspx and the Utah State Board of Education;

  (C) meet any criteria established for special education students under Subsection R277-700-8(5); or

  (D) pass a General Educational Development (GED) test with a designated score;

  (c) continuing students are students who:

  (i) transfer to higher education, without first obtaining a diploma;

  (ii) transfer to the Utah Center for Assistive Technology without first obtaining a diploma; or

  (iii) age out of special education;

  (d) dropouts are students who:

  (i) leave school with no legitimate reason for departure or absence;

  (ii) withdraw due to a situation so serious that educational services cannot be continued even under the conditions of Subsection R277-419-5(3)(f)(ii);

  (iii) are expelled and do not re-enroll in another public education institution; or

  (iv) transfer to adult education;

  (e) an LEA shall exclude a student from the cohort calculation if the student:

  (i) transfers out of state, out of the country, to a private school, or to home schooling;

  (ii) is a U.S. citizen who enrolls in another country as a foreign exchange student;

  (iii) is a non-U.S. citizen who enrolls in a Utah public school as a foreign exchange student under Section 53G-6-707 in which case the student shall be identified by resident status (J for those with a J-1 visa, F for all others), not by an exit code;

  (iv) dies; or

  (v) beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, is attending an LEA that is not the student's school of enrollment.

  (2)(a) An LEA shall report the high school completion status or exit code of each student to the Superintendent as specified in Data Clearinghouse documentation.

  (b) High School completion status or exit codes for each student are due to the Superintendent by year end upload for processing and auditing.

  (c) Except as provided in Subsection (2)(d), an LEA shall submit any further updates of completion status or exit codes by October 1 following the end of a student's graduating cohort pursuant to Section R277-484-3.

  (d) An LEA with an alternative school year schedule where all of the students have an extended break in a season other than summer, shall submit the LEA's data by the next complete data submission update, following the LEA's extended break, as defined in Section R277-484-3.

  (3)(a) The Superintendent shall report a graduation rate for each school, LEA, and the state.

  (b) The Superintendent shall calculate the graduation rates in accordance with applicable federal law.

  (c) The Superintendent shall include a student in a school's graduation rate if:

  (i) the school was the last school the student attended before the student's expected graduation date; and

  (ii) the student does not meet any exclusion rules as stated in Subsection (1)(e).

  (d) The last school a student attended will be determined by the student's exit dates as reported to the Data Clearinghouse.

  (e) A student's graduation status will be attributed to the school attended in their final cohort year.

  (f) If a student attended two or more schools during the student's final cohort year, a tie-breaking logic to select the single school will be used in the following hierarchical order of sequence:

  (i) school with an attached graduation status for the final cohort year;

  (ii) school with the latest exit date;

  (iii) school with the earliest entry date;

  (iv) school with the highest total membership;

  (v) school of choice;

  (vi) school with highest attendance; or

  (vii) school with highest cumulative GPA.

  (g) The Superintendent shall report the four-year cohort rate on the annual state reports.