INFORMATIONAL

The Report of Combined Term (Regular and Summer) Graduates for 
the 1998-1999 school year has been revised to collect 
information required for vocational education accountability 
measures that states must implement as a result of federal 
legislation that President Clinton signed on October 31, 1998.  
One of these measures requires "student attainment of a 
secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent, a 
proficiency credential in conjunction with a secondary 
diploma, or a post-secondary degree or credential."   

In an effort to consolidate our reporting requirements, 
figures for the number of vocational program completers by 
diploma/certificate type will be requested in the graduate 
report.  A vocational program completer is a student who has 
met the requirements for a vocational concentration or a 
vocational specialization and all requirements for high school 
graduation or an approved alternative education program.  
Please refer to the Guide to Vocational Program Planning in 
Virginia for further details.

The revisions to the report also eliminate graduate data for 
students with disabilities, since this information is 
available from reports collected by the special education 
office.

In response to requests from many school divisions, the 
graduate report format will change so that all data for each 
secondary school will be recorded within an Excel spreadsheet.  
We will make available on our website a custom designed 
spreadsheet that can be downloaded and used with Excel 5.0 or 
Excel 97.  File layouts will also be provided for submitting 
the data as an ASCII flat file.  We strongly encourage school 
divisions to submit their graduate reports electronically; 
however, school divisions that are unable to submit their 
reports with Excel or ASCII may request paper forms. 

A sample copy of the revised 1998-1999 graduate report is 
included for your review.  Please note that the request for 
the number of graduates by degree/certificate and plans broken 
down by racial/ethnic and gender categories does not change.  
Final tables, detailed instructions, reporting formats, and a 
list of edit procedures will be sent to division 
superintendents later this month.  Graduate reports for each 
secondary school in the division should be completed and 
returned to the Department of Education by September 3, 1999.

Questions relating to the Report of Graduates should be 
directed to the staff in Data Administration at (804) 225-
2099.


PDS/dmb

Attachment:     A hard copy of this memo and its attach-
                ment will be sent to the superintendent's
                office.