High School Enrollment
Key Takeaways:
- MA high school enrollment rose by about 2,000 students from 2015 to 2018, when high school enrollment peaked at approximately 291,000, then fell by almost 4,000 students from 2018 to 2022 to approximately 287,000.
The Statewide High School Enrollment by Year figure shows the total number of Massachusetts students in grades 9 through 12 at all public schools (including charters). The data come from MA Department of Elementary and Secondary School and District Profiles Enrollment by Grade report. You can hover over a specific point in either of the charts to see the data for that year.
The pandemic impacted enrollment during the 2020 and 2021 school years and the trends here have played out similarly on a national scale with a drop in total K-12 enrollment by 1,400,000 students between 2019 and 2020.
When reviewing all data in this dashboard presented for the 2020 and 2021 school years, it's important to consider the impact the pandemic may have had on student enrollment, experience, and outcomes.
Graduation Rates
Key Takeaways:
- Overall, graduation rates across MA have increased by approximately 3 percentage points over 7 years.
Massachusetts reports the number and percentage of students who graduate from public high schools each year in MA School and District Profiles Graduation Rates report. The figures in this section of the dashboard show four-year graduation rates, or students who graduate high school within four years of starting high school. Students who earn a GED or Certificate of Achievement are not counted as graduates.
The Four-Year Graduation Rate figure shows the percent of all MA public school students who graduated high school in four years. Each bar represents the percentage of students who graduated that year, within 4 years of starting high school. Students who graduate in their fifth year of high school are not included in this measure, but are included in the reported 5-year graduation rate data.
By default, this chart includes all students across the Commonwealth. However, you can use the dropdown at the top of the visual to select a specific student group to review their data. The next charts below allow you to compare specific student groups. To review this and other high school outcomes by specific district, please see the District Action Review Tool for Success After High School (DART).
The Graduation Rate by Race/Ethnicity and Graduation Rate by Gender figures show the percentage of MA students who graduated in four years across race/ethnicity and gender.
Each line in each of the charts represents one student group. You can hover over a specific point in either of the charts to see the data for that year. By default, the Graduation Rate by Racial Student Groups shows the largest four racial student groups. You can add other racial student groups by selecting the dropdown at the top. Small numbers of students in some racial groups leads to higher variability in outcomes from year to year.
Key Takeaways:
- In 2015-2021, Asian and white students had the highest percent of students graduating in four years, with graduation rates over 90% in all years.
- In almost every year, Hispanic or Latino and African American students had the lowest four-year graduation rates, between 70-84% in every year.
- However, the gap has narrowed between the student groups who have the highest graduation rates (Asian and white students) and those with the lowest graduation rates (Hispanic/Latino and African American/Black) in recent years.
- Across all years, female students graduated in four years at a higher rate than male students by approximately 5 percentage points.
MassCore Completion
In 2007 the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education adopted a state-recommended program of studies, or defined set of recommended courses that a high school student should complete, intended to align high school coursework with college and workforce expectations. This program of studies, known as MassCore, was updated in 2018.
MassCore includes successful completion of four units of English, four units of mathematics, three units of lab-based science, three units of history, two units of the same foreign language, one unit of the arts, and five additional “core” courses.
Massachusetts reports on the percentage of students who completed the MassCore program of study by the time they graduated high school. The MassCore Completion chart shows the percentage of students who completed the MassCore program of study from 2015 through 2021. By default this chart represents all Massachusetts students. However, you can use the dropdown at the top of the visual to select a specific student subgroup to review their data.
Key Takeaways:
- Overall, a majority of students complete MassCore requirements, and this number has grown steadily in recent years.
The MassCore Completion by Race and MassCore Completion by Gender charts show the percentage of MA students who completed the MassCore program of study by racial and gender identity.
Each line in the charts represents one group of Massachusetts students. You can hover over a specific point in either of the charts to see the data for that year. You can add other racial student groups by selecting the dropdown at the top. Small numbers of students in some racial groups leads to higher variability in outcomes from year to year.
Key Takeaways:
- White students and Asian students are most likely to complete the MassCore program of study, while African American/Black students are the least likely to complete the program of study; however the gap between these racial groups is narrowing over time.
- Female students are more likely than their male peers to complete the MassCore program of study.
Participation in Early College, Innovation Pathways, and Internships
Coming Soon: Data on statewide Early College, and Innovation Pathways participation.
Data on Internships will be available in a later version of this dashboard.
Advanced Placement Participation and Performance
Massachusetts reports on student participation and performance in Advanced Placement (AP) examinations. In the spring of 2021, Massachusetts students participated in 38 unique AP exams across 7 subject areas (Arts, English Language Arts, Foreign Languages, History and Social Science, Math and Computer Science, Science and Technology, and Capstone).
The AP Tests Taken by Year figure represents the number of AP tests taken across the state of Massachusetts. To view the data broken out by student race or ethnicity, select the Breakdown by Race button across the top. To view the data broken out by gender, select the Breakdown by Gender button across the top. To view the data broken out by test subject area, select the Breakdown by Test Subject button.
These figures show the number of AP tests taken, not the number of unique Massachusetts students who took these tests, e.g. if one student took 3 tests in a given year, this chart will count each of the 3 tests separately.
Key Takeaways:
- The number of AP tests taken statewide rose steadily from 2015 to 2019, and then fell in 2020 and 2021, potentially due to the pandemic.
- White students took a majority of AP tests every year. Asian students take the greatest number of AP tests relative to number of students.
- Female students took a slight majority of AP tests every year.
- The number of tests by subject area does not necessarily reflect student interest, because there are different numbers of tests available in each subject area. The list of available AP tests can be found here: https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/course-index-page
All AP exams are graded on a 1 through 5 scale. Generally, a score of a 3 or higher is accepted by most colleges as a passing score on an AP exam. The AP Test Passing Rate (3 or Higher) figure shows the percent of AP exams in which students scored a 3 or higher. By default, this figure shows the performance of all students in all subject areas. You can change the student population represented by selecting a different student population from the first drop down. You can add additional subject areas to the chart by selecting additional test subjects from the second drop down.
Key Takeaways:
- Passing rates (score of 3 or higher) stayed relatively flat around 66% from 2015-2019, and then rose to 71% in 2020 before declining to around 61% in 2001.
- Passing rates are highest for test subjects of Capstone, Arts, and Foreign Languages, all around 80% in 2021.
- Asian students and White students had the highest passing rates. Male students had a slightly higher passing rate than female students.
Graduates Attending College
Massachusetts tracks the enrollment of Massachusetts public high school graduates into institutions of higher education. The MA Department of Elementary and Secondary obtains data on college enrollment from the National Student Clearinghouse, which gathers the data nationally. Results by school and district are published in the Graduates Attending Higher Education report.
Students in MA may attend different types of institutions, including:
- Private 4-year institutions both in state and and out of state
- Public 4-year institutions including both in-state public institutions (MA state schools or UMass schools) and out-of-state public institutions
- Public 2-year institutions, including most community colleges
Note: Fewer than 0.1% of MA students attend private 2-year institutions and are omitted here.
Overall College Attendance:
The High School Graduate Attending College/University figure below displays the percentage of MA high school graduates attending any of the higher education institutions listed above by March of the following year. The year for each data point is the year of students' graduation from high school.
By default, this chart represents all students across the Commonwealth. However, you can use the dropdown at the top of the visual to select a specific student groups to review their data.
Key Takeaways:
- Prior to 2019, the percent of all MA students attending higher education institutions stayed relatively flat, between 72% and 74%.
- In 2020, there was a decline of almost 10 percentage points in the percent of students attending higher education institutions.
College Attendance by Institution Type:
The College/University Attendance by School Type figure shows the trend over time in recent years. As in the last figure, each year represents the high school graduating class of that year. The lines represent the percentage of high school graduates in that year who attended that type of institution by March of the following school year.
This chart automatically updates based on the student group selected in the High School Graduates Attending College/University figure.
Key Takeaways:
- The largest decline in college attendance occurred in the percent of students attending public 2-year institutions, which dropped from 16.3% in 2019 to 11.9% in 2020.
- In that same year, the percent of students attending public 4-year institutions declined by only 2.5 percentage points, and the percent of students attending private 4-year institutions declined by only 1.3 percentage points.
In-State Public College/University Attendance:
The In-State Public College/University Attendance figure shows the trend in the percent of high school graduates attending Massachusetts public higher education institutions. These include:
- MA State Universities
- University of Massachusetts (UMass) campuses, and
- MA Community Colleges
In the chart above, public 4-year institutions includes MA state universities and UMass campuses, as well as out-of-state public 4-year institutions (e.g. University of Connecticut). Public 2-year institutions is mostly equivalent to MA community colleges, since few students (0.5%) go out of state for 2-year institutions.
Each line represents the percent of high school graduates from a given year who attend that type of institution by March of the following year. Using the dropdown at the top, you can use the filter to select a specific student group to review their data, or can view the trends across all students, as is presented by default.
Key Takeaways:
- The percent of students attending UMass schools increased over the 2015-2019 graduating classes, but decreased slightly for classes graduating high school in 2020 and 2021.
- The percentage of students attending Massachusetts State Universities stayed relatively flat between 2015 and 2019, but similarly decreased in 2020 and 2021.
- MA Community College attendance decreased steadily between 2015 and 2019, and then decreased more sharply for the graduating class of 2020 and continued to decrease in 2021.
College Persistence
Coming Soon: Data on college matriculation and persistence (if available).
Wage outcomes of high school graduates
The report on wage outcomes shows data on employment and earnings of high school graduates. DESE uses a secure, anonymized process to match its student records with wage records provided by the MA Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) and with data on college attendance. Approximately 85-90% of public school graduates can be found in the wage record system. The DUA system does not include data on:
- Those employed outside the state of MA, self-employed individuals, nor federal employees
- Information about the number of hours worked
- Hourly rate of employment
This report is shown below, but it may be easier to open it in a new window with this link.
To use this report, first select a graduation year and select to either see data from the whole state or one district. The report will update automatically to show the resulting data. The report can be filtered to show the results by various student characteristics. There is also a button to see wages and employment by industry. In future years, DESE plans to expand on the features in this report to provide other filters and views of the wage results.
| Date published: | June 3, 2022 |
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| Last updated: | September 13, 2022 |