They May Graduate--but Are They Prepared? : Education: Course requirements vary widely among the county's 17 public high schools. Oak Park expects the most from its students.

By CATHERINE SAILLANT

June 12, 1995 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

About 7,000 Ventura County high school seniors will pick up diplomas this week and next in tradition-filled ceremonies that signify the end of 12 long years of education.

But many students--and their parents--may be unaware that all diplomas are not created equal.

Graduation requirements vary significantly among the county’s 17 public high schools, prompting some educators to question whether students are being adequately prepared for the work force of the 21st Century.

Most demanding of all is Oak Park High, where students must accumulate 240 semester credits and take far more English, math, history and science than the state requires for graduation.

And if seniors haven’t passed a computer-literacy course, they can forget about mortarboards and tassels, said Oak Park Principal Jeff Chancer. Ours is an increasingly competitive, computer-oriented society, and high school curricula should reflect that, he said.

“I don’t think we should require the minimum from our students,” Chancer said. “I think we should ask for the maximum. Isn’t that what school is for--to study?”

But it is a different story just across the Simi Hills in Simi Valley. There, students in the city’s two high schools can graduate with just 220 credits. That represents four fewer classes than the 240 credits students would earn if they took the traditional six-period day during each semester of high school. Each class is worth five credits.

The academic load is lighter, too, just slightly above what the state sets as minimum requirements.

The situation has troubled Simi Valley Unified School District administrators for a number of years, said Leslie Crunelle, director of secondary education.

“Two hundred and twenty credits under a normal schedule is probably too low,” she said. “Because it does provide kids with the opportunity to fail or skip four classes and still graduate. We have to ask ourselves why we would make that possible.”

All local school districts must enforce state graduation standards, said Norma Carolan, a consultant with the state Department of Education.

“But local school districts have the responsibility for establishing standards above the state’s that they think are appropriate for their students,” Carolan said. “And those can vary greatly across the state.”

Most high schools demand that students take at least 220 credits to complete their high school education, she said.

Credit requirements in local school districts are slightly higher, averaging 226. Four districts--Ventura Unified, Simi Valley Unified, Santa Paula Union High and Moorpark Unified--require 220 credits.

Ojai Unified School District demands 225 credits and Oxnard Union High, Conejo Valley Unified and Fillmore Unified school districts require 230 credits. But Oak Park--where high school students consistently score better than their peers--demands the maximum 240 credits.

That means that students cannot fail even one course during high school unless they are prepared to make it up in summer school, Chancer said. It is a strict code, but one to which students easily adjust here, he said.

“If you have high expectations, students will reach up and meet those expectations,” Chancer said.

But educators in other districts say it is unfair to compare Oak Park’s credit requirements to theirs. Students in Oak Park generally come from well-to-do families where parents are very involved in their children’s education, they say.

That is not true in such places as Oxnard, Santa Paula and Fillmore, where many students are poor, have limited English-language skills and must overcome other obstacles to academic success, said Patricia Chandler, Ventura Unified’s assistant superintendent of instructional services.

“Most schools do build in wiggle room,” Chandler said. “About 15% of our students struggle to get 220 credits, and the lower requirements give them a fighting chance to graduate.”

College-bound students end up earning 230 to 240 credits anyway to meet eligibility requirements for the University of California and other colleges, Chandler said, adding that requiring fewer credits offers greater flexibility.

Perhaps more important than the number of credits accumulated is the type of courses in which students enroll, Chandler and other educators said.

The state’s mandatory graduation requirements are three years of English and social studies; two years each of math, science and physical education; and one year of foreign language or visual and performing arts.

Students must also pass a proficiency test in reading, writing and math.

Students at Fillmore High School are required to take little more than the minimum courses mandated by the state. To graduate, students need take only one semester of health and one semester of driver’s education beyond above state standards.

But many other districts demand that students take extra academic courses. The Oxnard high school district, for instance, requires students to take an extra year each of math and English. And Ventura Unified demands extra courses in English, history and vocational training.

Oak Park High is the toughest in its requirements. Students must complete four years each of English and history and three years each of math and science. And it doesn’t end there.

Oak Park students must also pass one semester of vocational training, where they learn such skills as woodworking or auto shop, and one semester of computer literacy, Chancer said. District educators are particularly emphatic about training students to become comfortable with computers, he said.

“If you’re getting kids ready for the 21st Century, for the information superhighway, then I would hope they can find their way around a keyboard,” Chancer said.

Oak Park’s curriculum is so strict that it even exceeds the “model requirements” set down by the state Board of Education.

Several Ventura County school district administrators said they are considering upping course requirements to be closer to the standard set by Oak Park.

Educators in Simi Valley Unified, Ventura Unified, Moorpark Unified and Ojai Unified have all discussed making graduation requirements more demanding, officials said.

Simi Valley’s Crunelle said her district likely will take up the issue after the school board decides the knotty issue of whether to move ninth-grade classes into high school.

“If kids know all they have to do is barely skate by, that’s all they will do,” Crunelle said. “Not all kids, but some kids.”

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Graduation

High school graduations scheduled to take place in the next two weeks include:

TUESDAY

Oxnard Adult Education, 6 p.m., Oxnard Community Center

WEDNESDAY

Ventura Adult / Continuing Education, 2 p.m., Ocean Adult Education Center in Ventura

THURSDAY

Ventura High School, 3 p.m., School football field

Thousand Oaks High School, 6 p.m., School football field

Moorpark High School, 6 p.m., School football field