In New York State, a regular diploma is defined as a local or Regents diploma, including a Regents diploma with advanced designation requirements.  The course work for high school graduation requirements may be found at:

DIPLOMA REQUIREMENTS

The safety net allows eligible students who fail a Regents examination required for graduation to meet the requirement for a local diploma by passing the Regents competency test(s) (RCT), or an approved RCT alternative, in that subject.  The student may take the RCT before or after taking the Regents examination.  The safety net is available to:

1. any student who is classified as disabled by the CSE at any time; and
2. students with disabilities who have been declassified at any time between grades 8 and 12, as recommended by the CSE at time of declassification; and 
3. general education students identified under Section 504, as recommended in their 504 Accommodation Plan by the Multidisciplinary Team.

The RCT safety net for students with disabilities will continue to be available for students entering grade 9 prior to September 2010.  Students using this safety net will be eligible to receive a local diploma. Students with disabilities may also graduate with a local diploma if they score between 55 and 64 on the required Regents exams.

Baseline Data for 2000 Graduation-Rate Cohort as of August 31, 2004. This is FFY 2004 data for the 2004-05 school year. 

Fifty-three (53) percent of youth with IEPs in the 2000 graduation-rate cohort graduated from high school within four years (as of August) compared to 77 percent of all students in that cohort. The graduation rate cohort is the official cohort for accountability under NCLB.

Forty-six (46) percent of youth with IEPs in the 2000 total cohort graduated from high school within four years (as of June) compared to 67 percent of all students in that cohort. The “total cohort” includes more students than the graduation-rate cohort and the rules for being assigned to this cohort are similar to what the rules will be for the graduation–rate cohort beginning with students who entered 9^th grade or for ungraded students with disabilities who became 17 years of age in the 2003-04 school year. 

Discussion of Baseline Data

NYS is following the performance of two cohorts until the definition of the graduation-rate cohort is revised to be similar to the definition of the total cohort. This is expected to occur with the 2003 graduation-rate cohort. The graduation-rate cohort will continue to include graduates as of August, unlike the total cohort results presented in this SPP, which include graduates as of June. The graduation-rate cohort is the official cohort of the State for accountability under NCLB, however, VESID has focused its school improvement activities by using data for the total cohort because the total cohort includes more students and is similar to how the graduation-rate cohort will be revised beginning with the 2003 cohort. 

The tables below provide several years of data for the two cohorts. The graduation rate for students with disabilities in the 2000 graduation-rate cohort was 53 percent, lower than the graduation rates of the 1999 and 1998 graduation-rate cohorts. However, it should be noted that each year, more students with disabilities were included in the cohort. The 2000 graduation-rate cohort, for example, had 18,909 students with disabilities or 32 percent more students with disabilities than in the 1998 graduation-rate cohort with 14,306 students with disabilities. The increase in the number of students with disabilities in the graduation-rate cohort is indicative of better understanding among school districts of reporting requirements and also to some changes in the definitions of these cohorts. For the definition of each year’s accountability cohort and graduation-rate cohort, see the 2005-06 STEP reporting manual at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/irts/STEP/2006/STEPManual-2006.doc and the Student Information Reporting System (SIRS) User Manual at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/irts/SIRS/documentation/UserManual.doc. The graduation rate of the 2001 total cohort was lower than the graduation rate of the 2000 total cohort; however, the 2001 total cohort had 26,281 students with disabilities compared to 21,262 students with disabilities in the 2000 total cohort or 24 percent more students with disabilities. The additional students in the 2001 total cohort are reflective of improvements in the State’s system of data collection that captures the results of more students, especially students who drop out of school, as well as a better understanding among school districts of reporting requirements.  

The data for each graduation-rate cohort includes the summer graduates, as of August 31. The data for each total cohort includes graduates as of June 30. The years that are highlighted in the tables below represent the base year data for New York State. New York is revising its targets for the students with disabilities graduation rate to reflect the total cohort data. Once the total cohort data includes graduates as of August, NYS will consider revising its targets again for subsequent years.

Total Cohort, As of June 30, Four Years Later

Note:  The data and projected targets presented in the 2004 APR were based on the annual exiters of students with disabilities who earned a local, Regents and High School Equivalency (HSE) diploma as a percentage of the total number of students with disabilities who earned a local, Regents, HSE and IEP diploma or who reached maximum age.  These data did not consider the number of years it took to graduate nor were students with disabilities who dropped out of school included in the calculation.  In addition, these data were not compared to all students or general education students. 

Measurable and Rigorous Targets
 

Improvement Activities/Timelines/Resources