ACS Status Dropout Rates

Keriann,
As far as I know, this particular table is not available through published tables in American FactFinder. But you could create this variable using the ACS Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data. The Census Bureau provides the PUMS data for download (www.census.gov/.../pums.html) or you could use the IPUMS data at the Minnesota Population Center (https://usa.ipums.org/usa/).

The PUMS data would not provide the same level of geographic detail, however, as the published FactFinder tables.

-Mark

This is a classic example of where user input to the design of ACS tables is important. If there's a more widespread need for this statistic, particularly if it's important to meet a funding need, the appropriate tabulation should be added to the list of detailed tables.

My colleagues Mallory Rahe (Oregon State University) and Andi Irawan (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) and I wrote a paper on this topic that we presented at the ACS Data Users Conference 2 years ago. I would be happy to send it to you. The short answer is that it is not possible at the school district level to exactly mimic the education statistics using the ACS (although you can approximate it). Part of the reason is that each state defines a drop out slightly differently. The NCES attempts to create a uniform measure but it relies on data provided by states (in many cases). The paper may be helpful to you since one of our examples is Illinois.