Introduction
Since 1971, the South Carolina Department of Education has collected and analyzed data on school dropouts. The Report on Student Dropout Rates provides an assessment of the progress made by state and local school districts in their effort to reduce the number of school dropouts and increase the graduation rate. The annual data collection process employed in South Carolina reports students who leave school during a twelve-month period, including those who leave over the summer. The process allows those who re-enroll during the collection period and remain in school to be excluded from the count. The 2022-23 dropout report consists of nine tables. Table 1 contains a comparison of the total number of students enrolled in grades nine through twelve. This comparison, called an event rate, shows the proportion of students who drop out in one year. The resulting percentage may be compared yearly as an indicator of progress. Tables 2 through 9 compare the number of dropouts with the number of students enrolled by ethnicity and gender categories in grades nine through twelve.
Adult Education
During the 2022-23 school year, 7,783 students between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one were enrolled in adult education programs in South Carolina. In that year 1,194 of these students earned General Educational Development diplomas and 667 students earned high.
Data Comparison
Dropout Rate for Grades 9-12
From 2021-22 to 2022-23, the dropout rate for grades 9 through 12 declined in 49 of the 84 districts and special schools.
The state dropout rate of 2.3 percent decline during the 2022-23 academic year.
| School year |
DropoutRate Percent |
| 2020-2021 |
2.4 |
| 2021-2022 |
2.4 |
| 2022-2023 |
2.3 |
Dropout Percentages by Ethnicity and Gender
From 2021-22 to 2022-23, the dropout rate for nonwhite females increased.
Nonwhite males continue to dropout at the highest rate.
| School Year |
Demographic Type |
DropoutRate Percent |
| 2019-2020 |
Non-white Female |
1.5 |
| 2020-2021 |
Non-white Female |
1.9 |
| 2021-2022 |
Non-white Female |
2.1 |
| 2022-2023 |
Non-white Female |
2.2 |
| 2019-2020 |
Non-white Male |
2.6 |
| 2020-2021 |
Non-white Male |
3.4 |
| 2021-2022 |
Non-white Male |
3.3 |
| 2022-2023 |
Non-white Male |
3.3 |
| 2019-2020 |
White Female |
1.1 |
| 2020-2021 |
White Female |
1.8 |
| 2021-2022 |
White Female |
1.6 |
| 2022-2023 |
White Female |
1.5 |
| 2019-2020 |
White Male |
1.7 |
| 2020-2021 |
White Male |
2.6 |
| 2021-2022 |
White Male |
2.4 |
| 2022-2023 |
White Male |
2 |
Dropouts by Gender and by Ethnicity
In 2022-23, the dropout rate for males was 2.7 percent compared to 1.9 percent for females.
In 2022-23, the dropout rate for nonwhites was 2.8 percent compared to 1.8 percent for whites.
| School Year |
Demographic Type |
DropoutRate Percent |
| 2021-2022 |
Female |
1.9 |
| 2021-2022 |
Male |
2.9 |
| 2021-2022 |
Non-white |
2.7 |
| 2021-2022 |
White |
2 |
| 2022-2023 |
Female |
1.9 |
| 2022-2023 |
Male |
2.7 |
| 2022-2023 |
Non-white |
2.8 |
| 2022-2023 |
White |
1.8 |
Dropouts by Grade
In 2022-23, approximately 21 percent of all dropouts occurred in the ninth grade.
Cumulatively in 2022-23, 45 percent of the dropouts had occurred by the tenth-grade year.
| School Year |
School Grade |
Number of Dropout Students |
DropoutRate Percent |
| 2022-2023 |
9 |
1748 |
2.4 |
| 2022-2023 |
10 |
1591 |
2.5 |
| 2022-2023 |
11 |
1267 |
2.2 |
| 2022-2023 |
12 |
1032 |
2 |
South Carolina Dropouts 2022 - 2023
| Dropouts by Group |
Dropouts |
Enrollment |
Dropouts Rate |
| All Students |
5638 |
243953 |
2.3 |
| Male |
3355 |
123619 |
2.7 |
| Female |
2283 |
120334 |
1.9 |
| American Indian or Alaska Native |
22 |
705 |
3.1 |
| Asian |
24 |
4347 |
0.6 |
| Blacks, Non-Hispanic |
2030 |
77233 |
2.6 |
| Hispanic |
1108 |
31968 |
3.5 |
| Mixed Race |
341 |
12037 |
2.8 |
| White, Non-Hispanic |
2103 |
117356 |
1.8 |
| Homeless |
236 |
2100 |
11.2 |
| Students with Disabilties |
1241 |
30402 |
4.1 |
