Upper secondary schools' graduation rate and grades
Measuring the quality of upper secondary schools is harder than for compulsory school. Two key measures are the graduation rate (the share who graduate within three years) and average grade points. But these measures capture different things.
An upper secondary school with a 100 % graduation rate and low grades may be a school that succeeds in including all pupils — or a school with low standards. A school with high grades but a low graduation rate may have ambitious teaching — or simply select out pupils who cannot keep up.
The chart shows that most upper secondary schools cluster in the middle, but the spread at the edges is wide. Vocational programmes generally have lower grade points but can have a high graduation rate. Academic programmes can show the reverse pattern.
For parents and pupils choosing an upper secondary school, the message is: look at both measures, not just one. A high graduation rate combined with reasonable grades can be a better sign of a well-functioning school than extremely high grades with high dropout.
Statistics: academic year 2023/24. Source: Skolverket open data, Kolada and SCB. Processed by Skolkoll. Glossary · About the data.