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Undergraduate Economic Review

Abstract

This paper attempts to determine: What affects the graduation rates of Illinois public high schools? This question will be answered based on explanatory variables deemed important by previous research. The relationship between Illinois public high school graduation rates and the percentage of low income students in the high school, the percentage of parental involvement within the school, instructional expenditures per pupil, and the number of students enrolled in the school will be examined. The data was gathered from various sources including the Interactive Illinois Report Card and the Illinois State Board of Education. The results of the study show that schools with a higher percentage of students from low income families have lower high school graduation rates. The district’s instructional expenditures per pupil have positive correlation with graduation rates, holding all else constant. Parental contact proved statistically insignificant in determining high school graduation rates in the state of Illinois. The regression model suggests that schools with student enrollment of 0-500 have higher graduation rates than large schools with over 1,000 students, but schools with student enrollment of 501-1,000 have lower graduation rates than schools with over 1,000 students.

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