Are San Diego County graduates ready for life after high school? Here’s what the data shows
Some schools may have a high graduation rate but low percentages of students who have shown they are prepared for college or career
BY KRISTEN TAKETA
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
DEC. 28, 2023 5:45 AM PT
San Diego County public high schools have been graduating students at some of their highest rates yet since the pandemic, but many of those graduates may not be ready for college or career, according to new state data.
The data, released Dec. 15, shows that 85 percent of seniors at San Diego County’s public high schools — both district and charter — graduated this year. That’s just behind the statewide average of 86 percent.
School districts graduated students at higher rates than charter schools did. The average graduation rate for San Diego County districts was 89 percent, compared with 69 percent for local charters.
Meanwhile 59 percent of the county’s graduates met the course requirements for admission to the University of California or California State University, also known as A-G courses. That rate was 60 percent for local districts and 57 percent for charters.
And fewer than half of students who graduated met state criteria to show they have been prepared for college or career, which is one of the measures that the state uses to give school accountability ratings.
Graduation rates remain higher than they were before the pandemic — in 2019, only 82 percent of county students graduated. That’s in part because California has allowed schools and districts to use the state’s more lenient minimum graduation requirements, rather than districts’ own requirements, due to the pandemic. But graduation rates dipped only slightly this year after that flexibility expired last year.
https://www.delmartimes.net/news/story/2023-12-28/are-san-diego-county-graduates-ready-for-life-after-high-school-heres-what-the-data-shows
