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

What 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.

Zip	State	County	High School	Congressional District	3-Year Average	2008	2007	2006
20001	DC	District of Columbia	BANNEKER SHS	AL	74%	67%	73%	81%
20001	DC	District of Columbia	DUNBAR SHS	AL	N/A	106%	N/A	N/A
20001	DC	District of Columbia	MAYA ANGELOU PCS - SHAW	AL	106%	100%	N/A	67%
20001	DC	District of Columbia	WASHINGTON CTR SP ED AT MM WASH CSHS	AL	N/A	50%	N/A	N/A
20001	DC	District of Columbia	WASHINGTON M.M. CSHS	AL	N/A	N/A	N/A	91%
20002	DC	District of Columbia	SPINGARN SHS	AL	86%	77%	86%	95%
20002	DC	District of Columbia	CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES	AL	65%	65%	65%	N/A
20002	DC	District of Columbia	WASHINGTON MATH SCIENCE TECH PCS	AL	N/A	N/A	106%	N/A
20002	DC	District of Columbia	HYDE LEADERSHIP PCS	AL	33%	41%	N/A	N/A
20003	DC	District of Columbia	EASTERN SHS	AL	67%	60%	61%	79%
20003	DC	District of Columbia	CESAR CHAVEZ PCS	AL	82%	56%	N/A	73%
20003	DC	District of Columbia	EDISON FRIENDSHIP-CHAMBERLAIN PCS	AL	78%	N/A	83%	73%
20004	DC	District of Columbia	HOSPITALITY PCS	AL	110%	96%	N/A	104%
20007	DC	District of Columbia	ELLINGTON SCHOOL OF THE ARTS	AL	85%	98%	76%	80%
20009	DC	District of Columbia	CARDOZO SHS	AL	73%	80%	72%	68%
20009	DC	District of Columbia	BOOKER T. WASHINGTON PCS	AL	N/A	N/A	N/A	108%
20010	DC	District of Columbia	BELL MULTICULTURAL SHS	AL	47%	52%	35%	53%
20011	DC	District of Columbia	ROOSEVELT SHS	AL	77%	86%	80%	64%
20011	DC	District of Columbia	COOLIDGE SHS	AL	82%	106%	65%	74%
20016	DC	District of Columbia	WILSON W. SHS	AL	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
20019	DC	District of Columbia	WOODSON H.D. SHS	AL	69%	106%	59%	41%
20019	DC	District of Columbia	INTEGRATED DESIGN ELECTRONICS ACADEMY	AL	30%	32%	28%	28%
20019	DC	District of Columbia	KAMIT INSTITUTE PCS	AL	N/A	23%	105%	N/A
20020	DC	District of Columbia	ANACOSTIA SHS	AL	92%	N/A	80%	74%
20020	DC	District of Columbia	THURGOOD MARSHALL ACADEMY PCS	AL	47%	42%	54%	44%
20032	DC	District of Columbia	BALLOU SHS	AL	59%	72%	56%	51%
20037	DC	District of Columbia	SCHOOL WITHOUT WALLS SHS	AL	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A