Every graduating senior who is currently homeless in North Dakota could fit in a single high school auditorium. In 2024, 211 of them reached the end of the pipeline. Fewer than half walked out with a diploma on time.

The 52.1% graduation rate has bounced between 51% and 64.8% across eight years of data, but the trajectory is flat. The 30.3-point gap to the state average has never closed below 23 points and never been wider than 37. The best year was 2020, at 64.8%. The 2024 figure sits near the bottom of that range.

A persistent gap

Unlike some equity gaps that have narrowed and then widened, the homeless graduation gap in North Dakota has barely moved. It has never fallen below 23 points and never exceeded 37. The gap does not respond to the statewide trend. When the state rate rose in 2019-2020, the homeless rate rose too. When the state rate fell, the homeless rate fell. The distance between them barely budged.

This consistency suggests that the factors driving non-completion among students who are currently homeless operate independently of whatever is causing the broader statewide decline. Housing instability, school mobility, trauma, and the administrative burden of maintaining enrollment through frequent moves create a baseline challenge that persists regardless of whether the education system as a whole is performing well or poorly.

A growing cohort

The graduating cohort of students who are currently homeless has grown from 146 students in 2017 to 211 in 2024. The increase may reflect both genuine growth in student homelessness and improved identification under the McKinney-Vento Act, the federal law covering education services for children and youths experiencing homelessness.

With 211 students, the cohort is large enough to be analytically meaningful and small enough to be individually reachable.

At 211 students per year, the cohort of students who are currently homeless is a small fraction of North Dakota's 8,681 total graduates. But the 30-point gap has held steady for eight years. It did not narrow when statewide rates climbed, and it did not widen when they fell.

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