It’s is one thing for high school students to get into the colleges of their choice, its another to even qualify to apply.
Morgan Hill Unified School District held a special board study session Tuesday night to discuss the A-G requirements for the University of California system and California State University system. Currently, MHUSD grad requirements do not go hand-in-hand with A-G requirements.
A-G requirements ask that California students applying to these schools must complete certain courses throughout high school, not to mention they must have a minimum 3.0 GPA. Some UC campuses however have higher GPA averages; UC Davis fall 2011 class had an average 4.0, UC Berkeley’s 4.14.
The variation in grad requirements occurs mostly in the foreign language and visual and performing arts criteria. A-G requires two years of the same foreign language, one year of visual and performing arts and one year of other college prep elective.
MHUSD requires two years of a combination of two of the three areas: applied arts, visual and performing arts, and foreign language. Meaning a student could take for example, one year of a foreign language and another year of visual and performing arts to complete the requirement and graduate from high school, but fall short of UC/CSU requirements. Another 60 additional credits are needed in other electives to graduate.
Manny Barbara of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation presented the board with information as to why A-G requirements are important in terms of rigor for students. Currently, 35.6 percent of California students are completing the requirements. In Santa Clara County alone, 49 percent of all students are fulfilling the requirements.
“It’s never too early to instill that sense of going to college,” said Barbara, who is the past superintendent of Oak Grove School District.
He recommended the district take these A-G requirements as the default curriculum.
“This is not a matter of forcing students who are not ready. But default means no one slips into the cracks,” said Barbara.
The MHUSD graduation requirements task force, made of educators such as Live Oak High School teacher Gemma Abels and Sobrato High School teacher Tanya Salo, also presented their recommendations to the board.
They said that A-G requirements are beneficial to not only applying to state colleges but for the work force in general. They provided examples such as US military requires competency in foundation math, such as algebra and geometry and English for a recruit to have a choice in a career pathway. Trade unions such as electricians and plumbers unions require an associate’s degree to become a journeyman.
They offered two options for the district to consider to change grad requirements to align more with A-G. Option 1 changes the foreign language requirement to two years, the visual and performing arts to 1 year. Option 2 adds another year to lab science (a total of three years) and breaks down the foreign language and visual and performing arts as well as separate requirements.
“It’s part of our job to keep those high expectations for our students. That’s key when we talk about A-G requirements,” said board trustee Kathy Sullivan.
Board vice president Don Moody agreed that students should be encouraged to reach the goal of going to college.
“At an elementary school level, some of these student are hearing about college. Our hope is not ‘maybe someday’. It’s a ‘that’s what I expect to do’,” he said. “It seems to me that our junior high students need to know this. These families that wake up when these kids are sophomores, it’s sometimes too late.”
Concerns came up in discussion that there were not enough counselors at both high schools to aid students in picking the right classes and pathways to attain the A-G requirements. Sobrato high school however, has an advisory period on Wednesdays, a time where Principal Debbie Padilla said some of these discussions on classes occur. Live Oak High School does not currently have an advisory period.
“We push them. We want them to have an option that they chose when they leave. We have some battles, especially at the beginning of junior and senior year,” said Padilla. “After the fact, they’re grateful.”
Board president Ron Woolf mentioned that some districts, such as San Diego Unified, is backing off from A-G requirements because of the associated cost, such as hiring more counselors to help students. With California’s current economic times and looming budget cuts, this can be difficult to do.
“In good times we find a way, in not so good times …Â it can be harder,” Woolf said.
Padilla said at the meeting that although a lack of counselors could be a concern, lack of funds is not always an excuse.
“It’s not always about money, it’s how you creatively use your time and resources. Is it perfect? No. Do we need to start earlier? Yes,” she said.
A-G requirements:
A. Social science 2 years
B. English 4 years
C. Math 3 years, 4 years recommended for UC
D. Laboratory Science-2 years, 3 years recommended for UC
E. Foreign Language-2 years, 3 years recommended for UC
F. Visual and Performing Arts-1 year
G. Elective-1 year
MHUSD current requirements:
A. Social Science 3 years
B. English 4 years
C. Math 3 years
D. Science 2 years
E. Foreign Language/Visual Performing Arts 2 years
F. Other electives: 60 additional credits
Source: MHUSD
