There are all kinds of personal reasons why kids leave. There is no way for us to get a good handle on it.
They assume if they did not graduate in four years in our district these kids are dropouts. Some of these kids don't finish with us, some go on to continuation school, some go to Mexico. The state wants accountability but does not know how to get it.
We suggested they only count kids who started as a freshman at the school and stayed until they were seniors to graduate.