High school proposal may increase UC eligibility

A recently proposed plan to reform the academic requirements in
Los Angeles high schools may make more students eligible to apply
to the University of California.

If approved, high school students in the Los Angeles Unified
School District, beginning with freshmen in 2008, will have to
complete 15 college preparatory courses, called the
“A-G” sequence, in fields including English, math,
science, history and foreign language.

Such courses are required of students for them to be considered
eligible to apply to California public universities. The plan was
introduced to the district board of education earlier this
week.

But many high school and UC officials said they can’t
predict at this time the effect the proposed plan may have on the
competitiveness of the applicant pool to the UC.

Thus far, conclusions cannot be drawn about the changes that
might take place in admissions to UC campuses if reforms are
enacted, said Ravi Poorsina, a spokeswoman for the UC Office of the
President. Though the reform is a positive step, Poorsina said,
fulfilling eligibility requirements does not mean that students
will be able to compete with other applicants to the UC.

Most students who are admitted to UCs have taken courses beyond
the minimal requirements and have grade point averages
significantly higher than the eligibility standard, she said.

Though the required GPA to apply to UCs is a 2.8, the average
GPA of incoming freshman at campuses like UCLA and UC Berkeley is
above a 4.0, Poorsina added.

By taking the minimum requirements some students will be in a
position to later enroll in other more rigorous courses like honors
and advanced placement classes, said Bob Collins, superintendent of
District 1, which encompasses the western region of the San
Fernando Valley. Collins said that he felt the proposal was long
overdue and that once the new requirements are fully in place
students will become better equipped to compete for admissions to
many of California’s higher education institutions.

“When we have a culture in which we care about our
students, when we have expectations for our students, everybody
benefits,” he said.

But Jeannie Oakes, a UCLA education professor, said though
college preparatory courses are necessary, other reforms are also
needed to make students at local high schools competitive
applicants, including tutoring and test preparation programs.

These programs, while available at high schools in suburbs, are
lacking at high schools in central Los Angeles, said Oakes, who for
the past five years has researched the college track program at
local high schools.

The proposal comes at a time when students in some schools have
indicated that they found out too late in their high school careers
about the coursework they needed to take to be considered by a
California public university, said Susan Cox, a spokeswoman for the
Los Angeles Unified School District.

The proposal has sparked a debate between those who agree with
the introduced plan and others who are concerned that making
college preparatory courses a requirement will cause more students
to drop out of high school.

Oakes said that her research indicates that students placed in
more challenging classes do better academically.

“Nobody knows what exactly will happen,” she said.
“Research suggests that kids will do at least no worse and
probably better.”

Collins said that in his district, after requiring students to
make graduation and post-graduation plans, college attendance rates
increased dramatically and he expects similar positive results from
requiring students to complete more rigourous courses.

“Whenever we provide young people with higher
expectations, they for the most part tend to reach those
expectations,” he said.

In addition, proponents of the plan said though not all high
school students want to attend universities, taking college
preparatory classes will help them get accepted to vocational
schools and get better paying jobs.

Many business and vocational training programs today are
requiring academic skills attained in courses in the
“A-G” sequence, Oakes said.

Before the district Board of Education votes on the proposal
next month, the Curriculum and Instruction Committee, a permanent
body that assesses the curriculum and reform plans, will discuss
the proposal.

Julie Korenstein, a board member and member of the curriculum
committee, said that there are many issues that require
consideration before any action is taken.

One issue that needs to be addressed, she said, is how students,
if accepted to a university, will pay for it, since 70 percent of
students in the district are at the poverty level.