Fewer Students College-Bound : West County High Schools Lagging in Pupils Enrolling at 4-Year Campuses

From Camarillo to Ventura, every high school in west Ventura County lags behind the state average in the number of graduates going on to four-year state universities, a new state report shows.

Although students at many local schools outperformed their peers across the state on college-entrance exams, fewer of them are enrolling as freshmen in either the University of California or Cal State University systems.

And many schools are also falling short on the number of students taking the rigorous academic courses required for admission to UC.

As a whole, only 11.2% of graduates from Ventura County high schools enrolled as freshmen in 1992-93 in either the UC or Cal State University systems, fewer than the 14.2% average statewide.

Not only are county high schools sending fewer graduates to four-year universities, they are also failing to prepare them for college careers.

The rate of county high school students who were studying geometry, learning a foreign language or taking other courses required by UC during 1992-93 was only 42.6%, compared to 47.4% statewide, the report from the state Department of Education shows.

At the same time, county students who take college-prep courses are more likely to finish the full regimen of classwork than their counterparts statewide.

The numbers indicate that high school officials are directing only college-prep students into the rigorous courses, said county Superintendent of Schools Charles Weis.

“We’re doing a good job of sorting them,” he said. “I’m not saying that’s the right thing to do.”

Weis said he is also alarmed at the low rate of students going on to four-year universities.

“It means a long-term economic difference for our children,” he said. “We know that in the future, the amount of education you have will be directly related to your income. With our kids having a (low) four-year attendance rate, we’re creating a destiny for them of lower economic wealth.”

But Weis and others believe the main reason students are not choosing state universities is the lack of a UC or Cal State campus in Ventura County.

“Schools are not accessible,” said Ventura High counselor Bob Collins. “We have no major college campus in Ventura County.”

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While some local graduates attend the Ventura satellite campus of Cal State Northridge, many others drive to classes at UC Santa Barbara, UCLA or Cal State Northridge. But commuting is not an option for everybody.

“Unless you can afford to live at a four-year university, driving is kind of impossible from Fillmore, or difficult at best,” said Jane Kampbell, assistant superintendent for the Fillmore Unified School District.

But moving to a campus means adding the cost of room and board to tuition.

And many graduates apparently decide instead to start out at a community college, officials said.

“It’s got to be a matter of money and convenience,” said Pat Chandler, an assistant superintendent for the Ventura Unified School District.

While some community college students later move on to a state university, a study released in July showed that the transfer rate at Ventura County’s three two-year colleges significantly trails the statewide average.

Only 14.3% of graduates from Moorpark, Oxnard and Ventura colleges move on to a state university, compared to 19% throughout California, according to the report by the Center for the Study of Community Colleges.

The state report that was released today fails to take account of graduates who attend community colleges or those who go on to private four-year colleges or public university in other states.

But county school officials said the rate at which students move on to UC or Cal State is a good indicator of the overall numbers moving on to four-year schools.

The state released its report on California high schools to give parents and the public a snapshot of how well schools and districts are doing. Besides comparing schools’ success at sending graduates to universities, the state report also used several other measures of performance.

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On most of these, Ventura County schools surpassed the state average:

* County high school students had overall higher scores in 1992-93 on the now-defunct California Learning Assessment System exams, or CLAS.

* Ventura County had more students scoring above the national average on the SAT and ACT college entrance exams--20.8% compared to 19% statewide.

* The county had a lower dropout rate: About 90% of local students finish high school, while only 83.5% statewide stay in school long enough to graduate.

Even though Ventura County students are staying in school, they are taking fewer rigorous academic classes while they are there.

In the Oxnard Union High School District, all the high schools except Camarillo High lagged behind the state in the numbers of students taking courses that qualify for UC admission.

Camarillo High has a high percentage of students who plan to attend four-year universities, officials said.

But at the other four district schools, particularly Channel Islands and Hueneme high schools, relatively few students plan college careers, Oxnard district Assistant Superintendent Gary Davis said.

And the district sees no point in guiding students without college plans into the UC-preparatory courses, Davis said.

“If they’re not planning to go to a four-year college or university, I would not expect them to enroll in a course of study that meets UC requirements,” he said. “Maybe they want to have a different kind of job that doesn’t require two-year or four-year training. I would hope that we wouldn’t (conclude) that only students in (college-prep) courses are getting a high-level education.”

Some school officials disagreed.

Ventura High School counselor Bob Collins said Ventura High encourages all incoming freshmen to take college-preparatory courses, even if they have no plans for college.

“What I tell the ninth-graders that are coming in is that for every UC-type class you do not take, you close a door for yourself,” Collins said. “We encourage them to take them because it opens more doors later on.”

Pat McCabe, a state administrator for research and evaluation, acknowledges that many students do not go on to university.

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The UC and Cal State systems currently accept less than 30% of the state’s high school graduates, he said.

But even students with no plans for college need some academically rigorous courses, he said. “They need a mix. That’s all we’re saying.”

Superintendent Weis said it is even more important today than in the past for all students to learn higher-level math and other critical-thinking skills.

“There are no more jobs for people that work only with their hands,” Weis said. “It’s not an either-or thing like we used to have: You’re either going to be a mechanic or a brain surgeon. Even being on the factory line of Ford you need to understand statistics.”

Correspondent Tracy Wilson contributed to this report.

Getting Ready for College

Rate of students % scoring above % graduates enrolled in courses national average on who attend District accepted by UC SAT or ACT exams UC or CSU* Conejo Valley 56.8 36.9 18.5 Fillmore 34.0 8.6 6.2 Moorpark 49.0 19.1 9.5 Oak Park 60.7 34.6 23.7 Ojai 58.0 20.2 10.4 Oxnard Union 40.7 13.4 9.1 Santa Paula 29.6 8.2 8.4 Simi Valley 32.1 21.8 9.7 Ventura 48.5 21.1 9.2 County average 42.6 20.8 11.2 State average 47.4 19.0 14.2

* This is a percentage of 1992 graduates who enrolled as college freshmen in 1992-93.

Source: State Department of Education