Picture 100 students in 100 chairs at the beginning of the school year.  At the end of the year, 87 of those chairs will still have the same students sitting in them.  Of the 13 chairs with different students, 22 additional students will have sat in one of those chairs at some time during the school year.

A school with high mobility can also have high stability.  For example, in 2001-02 Humboldt High School had high mobility (53%) and high stability in (75%).  For every 100 students at Humboldt, 75 seats had the same students in them at the end of the year as at the beginning, of the 25 chairs with different students, 53 additional students sat in one of those chairs at some time during the school year.

While mobility is a major factor in the Saint Paul schools, there is still a large, stable population of students.