This policy brief focuses on a specific subgroup of ELL students: newcomers who enter a school district in the ninth grade knowing little or no English. Many of these immigrant students also have interrupted or limited formal education. In this brief we address two issues within the control of local school districts: 1) how to define and track newcomer graduation rates, 2) how to develop policies at the district level to improve newcomer graduation rates. This brief has articulated the need to focus on the outcomes of a particular group of students, those who arrive to the district in the ninth grade and must graduate within four years. Continued attention on the outcomes of this subgroup, combined with ongoing monitoring and targeted interventions can potentially improve graduation outcomes for newcomers and provide society with the benefits of increased graduation rates. [The policy brief is part of the Exploring Longitudinal Outcomes and Trajectories of English Language Learners (ELOTE) Researcher-Practitioner Partnership between WestEd and the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD).]