Building a Grad Nation Campaign

For those who were working to increase high school graduation rates, GradNation provided data, insight and analysis; information about effective and promising practices; plus opportunities to connect and learn from others.

Four organizations – the Alliance for Excellent Education, America’s Promise Alliance, CIVIC, and the Everyone Graduates Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education – led the campaign, and hundreds more played critical roles nationally, in states, and in communities.

The campaign was designed to accelerate the progress being made toward:

• Achieving a 90 percent graduation rate nationwide by 2020, with no high school graduating less than 80 percent of its students
• Regaining America’s standing as first in the world in college completion

Through this campaign, hundreds of national partners and their local affiliates were mobilized to provide all children with caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, an effective education, and opportunities to help others.

Reports

Grad Nation: Building a Grad Nation, Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, 2020-2021 Annual Update
September 2021
Authors: Atwell, Matthew; Balfanz, Robert; Manspile, Eleanor; Byrnes, Vaughan; Bridgeland, John M.
For over a decade, the GradNation campaign has focused the nation on improving high school graduation rates for all students to reach a 90 percent graduation rate equitably by 2020. Steady progress has been made, with 15 consecutive years of increasing graduation rates and, in 2019, the nation reached another all-time high graduation rate of 85.8 percent. Since 2000, 4.5 million more students have graduated from high school on-time rather than leaving school without a diploma. The first section of this report will explore these high school graduation trends across the nation in greater depth, examining progress to date. It also charts a path forward to realize the highly achievable gains necessary to reach a 90 percent graduation rate. In the second section, this report explores reaching a 90 percent graduation rate for all students, highlighting both the continued improvement of historically marginalized student subgroups and the equity gaps that linger. In addition, we analyze the high schools where on-time graduation remains elusive. Throughout, the report also highlights best practice in improving high school graduation rates and college and career readiness, explores the emerging data on the impacts of COVID-19, and features evidence-based policy options.

Grad Nation: Building a Grad Nation, Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, 2019-2020 Annual Update
September 2020
Authors: Atwell, Matthew; Balfanz, Robert; Manspile, Eleanor; Byrnes, Vaughan; Bridgeland, John M.
The COVID-19 pandemic and protests against systemic racism have shaken the nation in recent months. While the data presented in this report for the 2017–18 school year predated these crises, these events have further highlighted the glaring opportunity and achievement gaps in education for students of color and from various backgrounds. In addition to presenting an update to the nation on progress and challenge in increasing high school graduation rates on a path to postsecondary and workforce readiness, this report also addresses some of the gaps, barriers, and innovations seen across school systems to strengthen the nation’s educational response to these crises and help prepare for those in the future. It also unveils a “Meeting the Moment” plan of action to reach national goals and to ensure that these moments of crisis are used to re-envision education and to leverage what is most important to boost academic and other outcomes for children and youth.

Grad Nation: Building a Grad Nation, Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, 2018-2019 Annual Update
September 2019
Authors: Atwell, Matthew; Balfanz, Robert; Bridgeland, John M.; Ingram, Erin S.; Byrnes, Vaughan
The 2019 annual update to the nation includes three new features: a Secondary School Improvement Index; a focus on homeless students with graduation rate data available for the first time from 26 states, together with a national graduation rate released by the National Center for Homeless Education; and a new component highlights indicators of postsecondary success and provides snapshots of innovations in the school-to-work pipeline as the nation works to prepare more Americans for the increasing demands of the workplace.

Grad Nation: Building a Grad Nation, Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, 2017-2018 Annual Update
September 2018
Authors: Jennifer L. DePaoli; Robert Balfanz; Matthew N. Atwell; John M. Bridgeland; Vaughan Byrnes
High school graduation rates help us better understand how states, schools, and districts across the country are doing at graduating their students, bringing about more equitable outcomes for students facing the greatest challenges, and creating pathways for long-term success. This is essential because a high school diploma has become a prerequisite to postsecondary education and obtaining a livable wage and is associated with a wide range of important health and civic outcomes. Although strong and consistent progress has been made over the past decade in raising graduation rates, too often the same students, particularly those who are Black, Hispanic, low-income, and with disabilities, still have the most disparate outcomes, resources, and opportunities.

Grad Nation: Building a Grad Nation, Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, 2016-2017 Annual Update
September 2017
Authors: Balfanz, Robert; DePaoli, Jennifer L.; Bridgeland, John M.; Atwell, Matthew; Ingram, Erin S.; Vaughan Byrnes
This year signifies two key milestones in the GradNation campaign to raise high school graduation rates. First, the release of the 2015 federal graduation rate data marks five years since states began reporting the Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate (ACGR). The ACGR, for the first time, created a common formula for collecting graduation rate statistics across states and provides data on individual student subgroups down to the school and district levels. With five years of ACGR data, it is clearer than ever before where progress is being made and where it is not, which students continue to graduate at higher and lower rates and how this varies by state, and where graduation rate gaps are closing and persisting between student subgroups. Second, there are now just five years of federal graduation rate data reporting between now and the culmination of the GradNation goal to raise high school graduation rates to 90 percent by the Class of 2020. We have made remarkable progress as a nation, but need to accelerate our progress to reach our goal.

Grad Nation: Building a Grad Nation, Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, 2015-2016 Annual Update
September 2016
Authors: DePaoli, Jennifer L.; Balfanz, Robert; Bridgeland, John M.; Byrnes, Vaughan; Pierson, Mark; Ingram, Erin; McMahon, Kathleen; Fox, Joanna Hornig; Maushard, Mary
The report is based on the most recent comprehensive data from the National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education (2013-14). The 2016 report provides a new national and state-by-state examination of graduation rates for regular district, charter, virtual and alternative schools, a look at the validity of graduation rates, and policy recommendations for change.

Grad Nation: Building a Grad Nation, Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, 2014-2015 Annual Update
September 2015
Authors: Balfanz, Robert; DePaoli, Jennifer L.; Fox, Joanna Hornig; Ingram, Erin S.; Maushard, Mary; Bridgeland, John M.; Pierson, Mark; Byrnes, Vaughan
This sixth annual report to the nation highlights the significant progress that has been made, but also the serious challenges that remain – closing gaping graduation gaps between various student populations; tackling the challenge in key states and school districts; and keeping the nation’s focus on ensuring that all students – whom Robert Putnam calls “our kids” – have an equal chance at the American Dream.

Grad Nation: Building a Grad Nation, Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, 2013-2014 Annual Update
September 2014
Authors: Balfanz, Robert; Bridgeland, John M.; Fox, Joanna Hornig; DePaoli, Jennifer L.; Ingram, Erin S.; Maushard, Mary; Pierson, Mark; Byrnes, Vaughan
This fifth annual update on America’s high school dropout crisis shows that, for the first time in history, the nation has crossed the 80 percent high school graduation rate threshold and remains on pace, for the second year in a row, to meet the goal of a 90 percent high school graduation rate by the Class of 2020. After the nation witnessed flat-lining high school graduation rates for three decades, rates have risen about 10 percentage points over the last 10 years. Improvements have been driven by dramatic gains in graduation rates among Hispanic and African American students. But it is in those same populations that some of the greatest challenges remain.

Grad Nation: Building a Grad Nation, Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, 2012-2013 Annual Update
September 2013
Authors: Balfanz, Robert; Bridgeland, John M.; Bruce, Mary; Fox, Joanna Hornig
This fourth annual update on America’s high school dropout crisis shows that for the first time the nation is on track to meet the goal of a 90 percent high school graduation rate by the Class of 2020—if the pace of improvement from 2006 to 2010 is sustained over the next 10 years. The greatest gains have occurred for the students of color and low-income students most affected by the dropout crisis. Many schools, districts and states are making significant gains in boosting high school graduation rates and putting more students on a path to college and a successful career.

Grad Nation: Building a Grad Nation, Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, 2011-2012 Annual Update
September 2012
Authors: Balfanz, Robert; Bridgeland, John M.; Bruce, Mary; Fox, Joanna Hornig
This 2011-2012 Grad Nation Annual Update report shows that high school graduation rates continue to improve nationally and across many states and school districts, with 12 states accounting for the majority of new graduates over the last decade.

Grad Nation: Building a Grad Nation, Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, 2010-2011 Annual Update
September 2011
Authors: Balfanz, Robert; Bridgeland, John M.; Fox, Joanna Hornig; Moore, Laura A.
This Grad Nation Campaign Annual Update report provides an update on the progress in implementing the Civic Marshall Plan and highlights the challenges that remain as our nation works to meet its goal. This report is the first in a series of annual updates that will be provided through 2020, as the nation makes progress and confronts challenges to meet this national goal.

Grad Nation: Building a Grad Nation, Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic
October 2010
Authors: Balfanz, Robert; Bridgeland, John M.; Moore, Laura A.; Fox, Joanna Hornig
The central message of this report is that some states and school districts are raising their high school graduation rates with scalable solutions in our public schools, showing the nation we can end the high school dropout crisis. America made progress not only in suburbs and towns, but also in urban districts and in states across the South.

Grad Nation: A Guidebook to Help Communities Tackle The Dropout Crisis
September 2009
Authors: Balfanz, Robert; Fox, Joanna Hornig; Bridgeland, John M.; McNaught, Mary
The Grad Nation Guidebook is for communities that seek to improve their high school graduation and college readiness rates. It provides detailed information and tools to support reforms and enable effective community action.