1. (a) Averaging data. For the purposes of calculating the indicators under § 200.14 that are used for annual meaningful differentiation under § 200.18, meeting the requirement under § 200.15(b)(2), and identifying high schools with low graduation rates under § 200.19(a)(2), a State may establish a uniform procedure for averaging school-level data that includes one or both of the following:

   1. (1) Combining data across school years.

      1. (i) A State may combine data across up to three school years.

      2. (ii) If a State combines data across school years for these purposes, the State must -

         1. (A) Use the same uniform procedure for combining data from the school year for which the identification is made with data from one or two school years immediately preceding that school year for all public schools, including by summing the total number of students in each subgroup of students described in § 200.16(a)(2) across all school years when calculating a school's performance on each indicator under § 200.14 and determining whether the subgroup meets the State's minimum number of students described in § 200.17(a)(1);
         2. (B) Report data for a single school year, without combining, on report cards under section 1111(h) of the Act; and
         3. (C) Explain its uniform procedure for combining data in its State plan under section 1111 of the Act and specify that such procedure is used in its description of the indicators used for annual meaningful differentiation on the State report card pursuant to section 1111(h)(1)(C)(i)(III) of the Act.

   2. (2) Combining data across grades.

      1. (i) A State may combine data across grades in a school.

      2. (ii) If a State combines data across grades for these purposes, the State must -

         1. (A) Use the same uniform procedure for combining data for all public schools;
         2. (B) Report data for each grade in the school on report cards under section 1111(h) of the Act; and
         3. (C) Explain its uniform procedure for combining data in its State plan under section 1111 of the Act, and specify that such procedure is used in its description of the indicators used for annual meaningful differentiation in its accountability system on the State report card pursuant to section 1111(h)(1)(C)(i)(III) of the Act.

2. (b) Partial enrollment.

   1. (1) In calculating school performance on each of the indicators for the purposes of annual meaningful differentiation under § 200.18 and identification of schools under § 200.19, a State must include all students who were enrolled in the same school within an LEA for at least half of the academic year.

   2. (2) A State may not use the performance of a student who has been enrolled in the same school within an LEA for less than half of the academic year in its system of annual meaningful differentiation and identification of schools, except that -

      1. (i) An LEA must include such student in calculating the Graduation Rate indicator under § 200.14(b)(3), if applicable;

      2. (ii) If such student exited a high school without receiving a regular high school diploma and without transferring to another high school that grants a regular high school diploma during such school year, the LEA must assign such student, for purposes of calculating the Graduation Rate indicator and consistent with the approach established by the State under § 200.34, to either -

         1. (A) The high school in which such student was enrolled for the greatest proportion of school days while enrolled in grades 9 through 12; or
         2. (B) The high school in which the student was most recently enrolled; and

      3. (iii) All students, regardless of their length of enrollment in a school within an LEA during the academic year, must be included for purposes of reporting on the State and LEA report cards under section 1111(h) of the Act for such school year.

         (Authority: 20 U.S.C. 6311(c); 20 U.S.C. 6571(a); 20 U.S.C. 1221e-3; 20 U.S.C. 3474)

[81 FR 86229, Nov. 29, 2016]