Students in class work together on class project..

Summary: In San Jose, California, all students pursue a college-preparatory curriculum to earn their diplomas. As a result, the district has raised its graduation rate, lowered its drop-out rate, and seen improved student achievement, especially among minority students.

 In 2001, only 23 percent of Hispanic twelfth graders in San Jose Unified School District graduated with the requirements they needed to enroll in one of California’s four-year public colleges. It was a sobering statistic for an urban district where half the students are Hispanic. But school officials weren’t the only ones concerned. Parents, community members, even the students themselves said the district needed higher expectations for its students.

But starting with the class of 2002, the district required all students to pursue a college-preparatory curriculum and satisfy new high school graduation standards. Under the plan, known as the A–G requirements, students must earn 240 credits to graduate, including four years of English, three years

School officials believed the new graduation standards would raise expectations for students, but the change had an additional benefit—the revised course schedule satisfies the admission requirements for California’s two state college systems.
 “
The University of California and California State University systems require students to take an additional year of math, science, and foreign language to meet the college entrance requirements and most school districts don’t require students to do that,” says Bill Erlendson, assistant superintendent of educational accountability and community development. “We were the first to require students to meet that requirement to graduate.”

Planning for the change began in 1996 during a public engagement campaign the district launched to solicit community input about the schools. Through a series of focus groups involving parents, teachers, business leaders, and students, school officials learned that the community believed that students had it too easy.

“It came up over and over again,” says School Board member Richard Garcia. “It was surprising and even shocking to some of us. But we heard it consistently from our community that they were interested in raising the academic standards.”

At the same time, the district faced a court order to desegregate its schools, explains Erlendson, and improving the performance of the district’s most vulnerable students became critical.

“We wanted to hold ourselves accountable for what the court ordered us to do, including bringing up student achievement especially for our Hispanic students,” he says.

So in 1998 the district implemented the revised graduation standards and applied them to that year’s incoming freshman class. Yet, while community members had lobbied for the higher standards, some expressed concern about the district’s decision.

“A number of people took me aside and said we were setting up our students for failure,” says Garcia. “I was disappointed in hearing that and I told them I firmly believe that our students can do this if we are behind them. Test scores will improve and we will see more of our students in college.”

Garcia was right. Today, 90 percent of San Jose’s students graduate and half of them do so with a C average or better, says Erlendson. Among Hispanic students, meanwhile, 50 percent of twelfth graders graduate under the A–G requirements earning a C or higher, double the state and county rates.

The key to success was implementing a variety of “safety nets” to ensure every student could succeed, says Garcia. “We understood that this was not just a matter of saying ‘we’re raising our test scores’,” he says. “We needed to present to our community that we were well prepared to do this.”

The district gives its high school principals flexibility to create the programs and support services their students need, says Erlendson. Some schools offer block scheduling or extended school days to help students fit in the additional course requirements, while others provide Saturday academies and shadow classes for remediation and supplemental instruction. The district also sponsors mentoring and tutoring programs, after school and summer institutes, and alternative education options for students who need additional support.

Teachers, meanwhile, receive professional development on differentiating instruction to accommodate students’ unique learning styles and needs, says Erlendson. They also must satisfy the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act, which requires secondary teachers to have a degree in their content area, to teach higher level courses.

Students, especially those with special needs, also have an alternative graduation option known as the L Plan, says Erlendson. Under the L Plan students still must earn 240 credits, but they do not need the extra math, science, and foreign language credits required under the A-G standards. Instead, students take additional electives at the regional occupational center, which focuses on career and technical education. Erlendson stresses, though, that fewer than 10 percent of students pursue the L Plan diploma.

To fund the new programs, the district simply restructured its budget, Erlendson says. San Jose also receives $30 million in targeted state funding to support its desegregation efforts and programs that serve the district’s Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students. School officials admit, though, that recent cuts to the California budget could jeopardize their efforts.

“It remains to be seen how it will impact our ability to support our most needy students,” says Erlendson. “We are going to have to be very creative and prioritize very carefully.”

At the same time, budget cuts have forced the state’s college systems to reduce their enrollment, while college costs continue to rise, further challenging the district’s attempt to create a “college-going” culture among its students, says Garcia.

“Here we are having all of our students satisfy the admission standards and trying to encourage our kids to go to college and they may not be able to afford it or they may not have a seat,” he says. “That is discouraging. We know it will impact our students.”

For the time being, though, San Jose continues to succeed. In the district’s annual climate survey, increasing numbers of students and parents say they plan to attend college, says Erlendson. Students also take the SAT in greater numbers, adds Garcia. Meanwhile, school officials talk with students about their thoughts on the A–G requirements during annual focus groups with graduating seniors. Without fail, the students say they appreciate the higher standards and acknowledge that the tough requirements give them an advantage over students from other districts, says Erlendson.

“It’s neat to see that the students like having those higher expectations and appreciate them,” he says. “They didn’t have to worry about meeting the college entrance requirements because they already met them. They knew they were covered whether they planned to attend college or not and if their decision changed, they knew they would be set. … We want college to not just be an option for some students, but to become an expectation for all of our students.”

Contact

Bill Erlendson
Assistant superintendent of educational accountability and community development
Email: bill_erlendson@sjusd.org

This story was written by Kristen Loschert, a freelance writer living in Falls Church, VA. Loschert has been writing about education issues for ten years.

Posted: July 29, 2009

©2009 Center for Public Education