Special Education

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Indicator 2: Dropout Rate for Students with IEPs

What Is Indicator 2?

Indicator 2 reports the percentage of students with IEPs who dropped out of high school.

The data for Indicator 2 are from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Student Information Management System (SIMS).

Why Is Indicator 2 Important?

Indicator 2 is one way to assess whether Massachusetts is meeting its goal to prepare all students for success after high school in further education, work, and in daily life.

Changes to Indicator 2 Reporting

In the past, Indicator 2 reported the percent of students with IEPs who dropped out of school based on the total number of students with IEPs enrolled in high school (Grades 9–12) in the reporting year.

As of 2021, the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) requires that Indicator 2 base this percentage on the total number of students with IEPs who left high school in the reporting year. The reported dropout rates in the table below have been recalculated using OSEP's new measurement requirement.

Dropout Rates for Students with IEPs

201620172018201920202021
15.43%15.50%15.11%13.97%10.38%11.38%

Indicator 2 Measurement

The percentages in the table are the number of students aged 14–21 with IEPs who exited special education by dropping out, divided by the number of all students aged 14–21 with IEPs who left high school in the denominator.

"Left high school" means that someone:

  1. graduated with a regular high school diploma or
  2. received a certificate or
  3. reached maximum age or
  4. dropped out

Recommended Baseline: 13.97%
We use baselines as a starting point and compare data from other years to the baseline year data. Due to the pandemic, OSEP allowed states to use the 2019 dropout rate (13.97%) as the baseline.

Recommended Indicator 2 Target: 0.5% annual decrease in each of the next five years.

Learn More about Indicator # 2:

Last Updated: March 21, 2023