Graduating seniors are attending college at higher rates, with the number of students entering 4-year universities increasing over the past five years, according to the staff report presented by Director of Secondary School Curriculum Dianne Howell and Director of Assessment and Evaluation James Gulek to the board of trustees during the May 9 meeting. Of the 955 students who graduated in 2005, 531, or 55 percent, reported plans to attend a 4-year university. Of those attending 4-year universities, 17 percent attended a college in the University of California system and 21 percent attended a college in the California State University system. In 2001, 49 percent of graduates reported plans to attend 4-year universities.
Of the students who did not go to 4-year universities in 2005, 35 percent attended 2-year colleges and 13 percent persued vocational or technical fields, specifically either joining the military or going straight to fulltime employment. The number of students going to 2-year universities decreased from 41 percent in 2001. Howell speculated that the drop in students attending 2-year colleges was related to the increase of students attending 4-year universities.
Noting that the majority of students attending 4-year universities go to UC or CSU schools, Trustee Juanita Haugen suggested that the district at some point consider making the UC “A-G requirements”–a list of classes that students must take to be eligible for admission–the district’s graduation requirements.
“Los Angeles Unified is requiring the ‘A-G’ and showing significant improvement in graduation rates, exit exams and getting into higher education,” Haugen said. “Fresno is looking into it, too. It’s something to keep our ears to the floor on.”
Advanced Placement tests were also a hot topic, with 926 students taking a total of 2,167 tests and 81.6 percent passing each test in the 2004-2005 academic year, according to the staff report. That was up from 2000-2001 when 565 students took 1,300 exams and 69.5 percent passed. Students can earn college credit when they earn a score of three or higher on an AP test. The tests are scored on a scale of 0-5.
Trustee Kris Weaver pointed out that the dramatic increase in students taking AP tests is most likely related to the addition of AP classes for sophomores.
“I commend the high schools for expanding their classes and filling this need,” she said.
Trustee Pat Kernan said that while he found this information useful, he would like to see data on how well students fare once they are in college–something he has wanted for a while. Howell said the district plans to develop methods of obtaining this information from past students so the district can know how well prepared students are for college and beyond.
While the trustees were impressed with how well students are performing, Weaver said she is concerned that students, who have said they feel a lot of pressure to meet high academic standards, are not made aware that going to a 4-year university is not the only path to success after high school.
“One thing I’ve heard loud and clear at the high schools is that the students are under a tremendous amount of pressure,” Weaver said. “They’re taking AP classes and feel the need to get into a UC, but maybe we should point out to them that going to a 2-year college first and then transferring to a 4-year can be a good thing for some students.”
Kernan agreed, saying there are some students who are not college-bound and are interested in pursuing other goals, and the district needs to meet the needs of those students, as well.
“There are some students who aren’t interested in college, and the challenge is to come up with goals for them, too,” he said. “They are entitled to having higher goals as well, even if they chose a different career path. We need alternative goal setting because these students are also an important part of the community.”
