High Schools in the United States: How does your local high school measure up?

Click on Image for Larger VersionWhat is Promoting Power?

Promoting power compares the number of 12th grade students in a school to the number of 9th graders three years earlier. It is designed to estimate the proportion of high school students who make it to their senior year. For example, if a school's promoting power is 80 percent it means that the number of 12th graders is 80 percent of the number of 9th graders three years before. If a school does not have a 9th grade, the indicator is calculated as the ratio of 12th to 10th graders instead. It is not a graduation rate because it does not measure how many students received diplomas.

Class of 2007 Promoting Power =

# of students in grade twelve in the 2006-07 school year
# of students in grade nine in the 2003-04 school year

The promoting power indicator was originally developed by a team of researchers lead by Robert Balfanz and Nettie Legters, then of Johns Hopkins University. Detailed information and analysis can be found at the Everyone Graduates Center: http://www.every1graduates.org/index.html.

Why is Promoting Power Used?

There is currently no graduation rate calculation that is used for every school in the country-the way graduation rates are computed differs by state, rendering apples to oranges comparisons. However, by drawing on a national database, promoting power can be used to consistently approximate how many students are making it to graduation on time for schools across the country. This indicator allows researchers to identify schools, districts, and regions that may be struggling to graduate their students. Although it is only an estimate of graduation rates, and one that can be affected by other factors (see "data limitations" below), having a low promoting power should serve as a "check engine" light for a school.

Review the frequently asked questions about promoting power to learn more. 

To determine the promoting power for high schools in a specific state or congressional district, use the search tools below.

NOTE: Conservative reporting: 3-yr average vs 1-yr. promoting power

In order to mitigate data anomalies that might particularly affect one year of promoting power (such as a neighboring school closing), researchers also calculate a 3-year promoting power average. The Alliance reports this average to give a clearer picture of promoting power in a school over time, and average out some of the enrollment changes that may occur from year to year. When data for all three years was not available, the three-year average represents data for only one or two years. In some cases, the three-year average includes data that was suppressed for a particular year because the promoting power fell outside of the normal range of 15 to 115 percent.

(If you do not know your congressional district, visit http://www.house.gov/ and enter your zip code in the box provided).
(The zip code search will only retrieve high schools with the exact zip code as the one you enter. If you do not see any schools after you enter a zip code, search by state name and then click on “high school” to sort by high school name.)

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Zipsort iconStateCountyHigh SchoolCongressional District3-Year Average200720062005
20001DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAPRE-ENGINEERING SWSC DUNBAR01N/AN/AN/AN/A
20001DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIABANNEKER HIGH SCHOOL0182.8072.7081.5094.20
20001DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAWASHINGTON, M.M. SHS01102.90N/A91.3098.60
20001DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAMAYA ANGELOU PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLDL92.10N/A66.7059.60
20001DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIADUNBAR HIGH SCHOOL01N/AN/AN/AN/A
20002DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIASPINGARN HIGH SCHOOL01109.1086.4095.00N/A
20002DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAEDISON-FRIENDSHIP PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLDL78.1083.0073.10N/A
20002DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIACHILD & FAMILY SERVICES (REGULAR EDUCATION)DL65.2065.20N/AN/A
20003DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAEASTERN HIGH SCHOOL0173.8060.6079.4081.50
20003DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAWASHINGTON MATH/SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY PCSDLN/A105.60N/A106.10
20004DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAMARRIOTT HOSPITALITY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLDLN/AN/A103.70113.00
20007DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAELLINGTON SCHOOL OF THE ARTS0178.5075.8080.2079.50
20009DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIACARDOZO HIGH SCHOOL0167.3072.2067.6062.00
20009DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIACESAR CHAVEZ PUBLIC POLICY PCSDL76.00N/A73.4037.80
20009DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIABOOKER T. WASHINGTON PCSDL104.80N/A107.7081.80
20010DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIABELL HIGH SCHOOL0145.9035.2052.9049.80
20011DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL0174.0079.9064.3077.90
20011DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAKAMIT INSTITUTE PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLDLN/A105.40N/AN/A
20011DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIACOOLIDGE HIGH SCHOOL0169.9065.1073.8070.70
20016DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAWILSON HIGH SCHOOL01N/AN/AN/AN/A
20019DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAINTEGRATED DESIGN ELECTRONICS ACADEMY PCSDL35.5028.4028.0050.00
20019DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIASEED PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLDL54.2026.7067.6068.40
20019DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIABUSINESS & FIN. SWSC WOODSON01N/A100.00N/AN/A
20019DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAWOODSON HIGH SCHOOL0147.4059.5040.9041.80
20020DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAANACOSTIA HIGH SCHOOL0167.3079.5074.2048.10
20032DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIATHURGOOD MARSHALL ACADEMY PCSDL49.9053.9044.4051.40
20032DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIABALLOU HIGH SCHOOL0150.5055.9050.6045.10
20037DCDISTRICT OF COLUMBIASCHOOL WITHOUT WALLS01N/AN/AN/AN/A