The full-time apparent retention rate (ARR) measures the proportion of a cohort of full-time students that moves from one grade to the next, based on an expected rate of progression of one grade per year. It does not track individual students through their final years of secondary schooling.

Data Notes:

• The ARR is the ratio of the total number of full-time school students in a designated year (e.g. Year 12 in 2020) divided by the total number of full-time students in a previous year (e.g. Year 7 in 2015). This would be the Year 7 to 12 apparent retention rate in 2020.

• From 2020, students in mainstream support classes (previously excluded from this data) are reported by their underlying grade of enrolment. This has resulted in an increase in apparent retention rates across all years. As a result, data from 2020 is not directly comparable to previous years. A separate column in the Excel files has been provided to show the results using the old and new methodologies.

• Support students at Schools for specific purposes (SSPs) do not have a designated grade and therefore are not counted in the calculation of ARRs. Support students in mainstream schools have been included in the calculations from 2020 (see above).

• Reporting on ARRs based on small numbers of students can lead to unreliable ARR estimates. The tables combine ABS SA4 areas to ensure the underlying number of students is sufficiently large to generate reliable estimates.

• Only full-time students are counted in the calculation of full-time apparent retention. Part-time students are excluded.

• Students enrolled in distance education classes are included with their appropriate grade levels. Sydney-Inner includes enrolments from Sydney Distance Education High School.

• ARRs can exceed 100 per cent due to factors including student migration from interstate and overseas and between school sectors.

• Norfolk Island Central School is not included in the Apparent Retention Rate factsheet, but since 2018 has been included in the ABS Schools Australia publication. This can lead to a slight difference in reported figures between Schools Australia and this dataset.

Data Source:

• Apparent Retention Rate Factsheet. Statistics and Analysis Unit. Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation.