In typical use, the category of pushouts excludes students who have been formally expelled from school for violating rules (e.g., for being violent).
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.
[1] 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.
Within youth advocacy and activist communities, pushout is a term that recognizes the intersecting forces of oppression most commonly responsible for high school "drop outs" within marginalized communities of color, allowing for the responsibility to be placed on those forces, rather than the youth impacted by unequal education, economics, disciplinary actions, and racism.