A pushout is a student that leaves his school before graduation, through the encouragement of the school. A student who leaves of his own accord (e.g., to work or care for a child), rather than through the action of the school, is considered a school dropout. In typical use, the category of pushouts excludes students who have been formally expelled from school for violating rules (e.g., for being violent).
Students may be pushed out of school because their presence in the school creates difficulty in meeting some goal of the school. For example, in the case where funding for the school is dependent upon scholastic achievement of the students, if the school can get rid of low-performing students, average test scores on academic performance tests will go up, thus increasing funding. Schools may pushout truant students, who formally enroll in classes, but then refuse to attend.
In some low-performing schools in Chicago combined dropout/pushout rates have exceeded 25% in one year.
Children are also pushed from schools because they present discipline problems.