Battle on to increase graduation, college-going rates

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EDUCATION: Battle on to increase graduation, college-going rates

“In the Inland Empire, a high school dropout is born every hour,” a workforce expert laments. Changes to that and other hindrances are essential
A generation ago, a high school degree was enough to land a decent-paying job at the local steel mill or aerospace plant and gain entry to the middle class.

In the years since, the job market has evolved into one that requires more brain power and less muscle.

American workers no longer perform repetitive tasks on an assembly line. They operate specialized machinery, follow complex blueprints and perform higher math. In most cases, they are expected to have at least some college or training after high school.

The shift to a knowledge-based economy has cast a spotlight on the lack of an adequately prepared workforce in the Inland area and beyond — and the education system that should be grooming it.

The region’s shortage of trained workers is a major impediment to attracting companies that pay well, a key to boosting the local economy. Business leaders and education experts are scrambling to improve the schools to benefit not only students but entire communities.

“Education is tied to economic development. If we are able to create jobs, it’s because we raised the education level. Otherwise, we’ll remain blue collar,” said Larry Sharp, a Cal State San Bernardino vice president involved in the Alliance for Education, a local effort to revamp curriculum in San Bernardino County schools.

The problem is borne out in the statistics, cited by school leaders and employers who are bringing new programs to the area and pushing for restructuring of the entire educational system. Their efforts include capitalizing on students’ interests to keep them motivated, showing them how lessons apply to real life and moving them into more demanding coursework.

Last year, 1 in 5 students in San Bernardino County dropped out of high school. In Riverside County, it was 1 in 6, just slightly better than the state average.

The area was 34th out of California’s 58 counties for dropout rates in 2009.
In the San Bernardino-Riverside-Ontario area, dropouts in 2010 totaled some 27,700 students, who, as underemployed workers, cost the region billions of dollars in lost purchases, investments and state and local tax revenues, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education, a Washington, D.C.-based policy and advocacy group.

Dropouts will struggle to land good-paying jobs in the 21st century job market and are therefore more likely to need social welfare assistance, the group said.

“In the Inland Empire, a high school dropout is born every hour,” said Jamil Dada, a member of the Riverside County Workforce Investment Board and part of Riverside’s Completion Counts initiative to boost graduation rates. “In an economy like this, where every dollar counts, we can’t have that kind of a drain.”

The problem isn’t just dropouts, however. Many of the 74 percent of students who graduate high school on time statewide don’t have the academic foundation for college-level courses.

Remedial math and English classes in college cost the state nearly $780 million in the 2007-08 school year, according to the Alliance.
Getting students through college is another hurdle the Inland area must clear if it is to draw high-caliber jobs and increase the quality of life, said Jay Westover, an education consultant with InnovateED, which contracts with school districts across the state, including Corona-Norco and the Riverside County Office of Education.

Less than a third of local graduates — 29 percent in Riverside County and 24 percent in San Bernardino County — meet the eligibility requirements for admission to the University of California or California State University systems.
Many of those who get to college don’t finish.

UC Riverside’s six-year completion rate of 66 percent was the lowest among eight UC campuses in 2007, according to the California Postsecondary Education Commission. Cal State San Bernardino’s six-year completion rate of 38 percent was the third-lowest of 21 campuses in its system.

Instead of just getting children to graduation and boosting test scores, elementary and secondary schools should make courses more rigorous and help students develop critical and creative thinking skills that are in demand in today’s jobs, Westover said. That will prepare them for more demanding studies and groom them for college.

“In the past, our K-12 system thought its job was to make sure our students graduate. That’s not good enough anymore,” he said.
ADDING RELEVANCE

The Inland region ranks last among the 100 largest metropolitan areas for the gap between educated workers and jobs, according to a recent report by the Brookings Institution , a nonprofit public policy organization in Washington, D.C.

When Mike Gallo , president of Kelly Space and Technology in San Bernardino, needed precision machinists to make titanium parts for a portable laser he is developing to treat burn wounds, he couldn’t find them. The company develops parts and technology and tests equipment for NASA, the U.S. military and others.

There were no local industry-certified training programs for his jobs and high school shop classes that might have turned kids on to such career paths were long gone, he said.

Lacking a qualified labor force, Gallo created his own training program last year and partnered with community colleges and the Regional Occupational Program.

Many of the adults drawn to his Technical Employment Training Inc. in San Bernardino are high school dropouts, parolees and displaced workers in need of a second chance.

In the year since it was started, Gallo’s nonprofit company has placed 56 of its 76 graduates in $15- to $21-an-hour jobs with companies such as Sorenson Engineering in Yucaipa, which produces parts for medical equipment and the defense industry. As the program ramps up, the hope is to turn out 300 machinists a year, he said.

Gallo, a structural and aeronautics engineer, is part of the Alliance for Education, which works to increase education in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, in San Bernardino County. He advocates more hands-on learning that motivates students and shows them how what they are learning can be used in real life.


“It’s about more than just getting kids in their seats,” he said. “As early as possible, we need to get hold of these kids and inspire them, get them interested in what they’re learning.”

His group’s aim is to add “relevance” to the three Rs.

The Alliance sponsors field trips to Kelly Space and Technology, where high school students use trigonometry to calculate the trajectory of a rocket, which they get to launch in the parking lot. They use computer models and work as a team using cardboard tubes, strings and protractors to determine the launch angle — skills relevant to the new workplace.
Gallo, a candidate for the San Bernardino school board, calls it “stealth math.”
Such partnerships and industry-driven education programs are becoming the way of the future, experts said.

RETRAINING ADULTS

A similar but more widespread effort is under way in 10 counties in northeast Indiana, where schools and industry are working to fill jobs in advanced manufacturing, defense and aerospace, growing job sectors expected to need several thousand new and replacement workers in the next five years.
To have a ready talent pipeline of software and systems engineers, technicians and other highly trained workers, the region in 2009 began using a $20 million grant from the Lilly Endowment in Indiana to pursue four key strategies.

The first is to retrain at least 1,200 adult workers over three years with advanced manufacturing skills; the second is to purchase machinery and software enhancements for an existing vocational training program; the third is to add faculty and expand engineering-related curriculum at three universities.

The final leg of the aptly named Talent Initiative involves the K-12 system. To bolster education in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, known as STEM, six tech high schools have been launched in northeast Indiana. They emphasize project-based learning, similar to the environment in a contemporary workplace.

The schools teach 21st century skills: oral and written communication, collaboration, working in teams, creativity and presentation skills.
The Talent Initiative grant also funds teacher training on new strategies for increasing STEM content in classes and use of project-based learning.
The power of the project is in its unity, spokeswoman Courtney Tritch said.
“You can have a lot of different programs and initiatives and everyone working on them going in a thousand different directions. If you can align them, you can leverage your various strengths and assets and make more headway,” she said.

A ‘SPUTNIK MOMENT’

The emphasis on math and other STEM curriculum is the rallying call in education, the key to developing intelligent and innovative workers who could be the next Steve Jobs.

In his State of the Union address in January, President Barack Obama said the nation must invest in STEM and increase college graduation rates in order to out-innovate other countries. His goal is for the United States to have the highest percentage of college graduates in the world by 2020.
“Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we would beat them to the moon. The science wasn't even there yet. NASA didn’t exist. But after investing in better research and education, we didn't just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs.

“This is our generation's Sputnik moment,” he said.

Locally, increasing college-going and college-completion rates is vital.
For Riverside alone, a 1 percent increase in graduation rates for associate and bachelor’s degrees could produce an increase of $181.7 million in annual per capita income, according to figures from Seizing Our Destiny, a city effort to increase quality of life by developing a well-educated workforce, among other goals.

SMALLER IS BETTER

Numerous programs are under way in an effort to improve Inland schools and the economy with it. One is “smaller learning communities,” where large high schools are broken down into smaller schools and students get more one-one-one attention.

Palm Springs High School embraced the philosophy five years ago. Now, each grade level is broken down into 200-student “houses.” A dedicated group of teachers works with those students in core academic areas, and they stay with those students through to graduation, Principal Ricky Wright said.
The continuity and accountability, combined with increased teacher training and parental involvement, have paid off, he said. The graduation rate went from 89 percent to 94 percent and discipline problems have dropped drastically.

“With the house structure, if a kid is having problems, five teachers know about it. That kid isn’t out on an island,” Wright said. “A kid that has not been successful, we can target them a little easier.”

Another program, AVID — Advancement Via Individual Determination — has an impressive record of getting students with B, C and D grades to college by having them take accelerated honors classes. Most AVID participants are low income or minorities and the first in their families to attend college.

The students are capable but haven’t been challenged, organizers said. They are taught organizational and study skills and how to think critically.

In 2010, 74 percent of AVID graduates nationally were accepted to four-year universities.

SYSTEMIC CHANGES

Implementing singular programs isn’t enough and wholesale changes must be made to the system if the goal is to improve the quality of life for a whole region, some experts said.

Among the changes they advocate:

Align high school graduation requirements with the “A-G curriculum,” a series of 15 courses required for admission to the California State University and University of California system.

Ensure a rigorous course of study starting in middle school. Many students are placed in less demanding classes, particularly in math, to increase test scores, and are therefore unprepared for high school, some said. Students should have a personalized graduation plan, complete algebra by ninth grade and learn expository reading and writing.

Replace the scattered assessment and placement requirements in community colleges and the CSU and UC systems with the Early Assessment Program, or EAP, as a common indicator of college readiness. Students who pass the EAP in 11th grade would be exempt from remedial college courses.

At UC Riverside, 67 percent of incoming freshmen have to take remedial math or English courses. Remedial math alone costs the university $5 million a year, said Pamela Clute, a UCR math professor and assistant vice provost for academic partnerships.

She is part of the Federation for a Competitive Economy, a partnership of education, industry, government and nonprofit groups pushing to expand use of the EAP for college placement. UC Riverside, Cal State San Bernardino, Cal Poly Pomona, several community colleges and the two county offices of education are participating.

Better collection and use of data to track how students are doing over time. Good data systems that track a student through the education system can help districts and teachers calculate accurate graduation rates, tailor instruction and determine if students are meeting career or college goals.
Introduce new high school career technical courses that meet businesses’ needs as well as college entrance requirements.

One way to do this is through Linked Learning, which connects strong academics with real-world experience in fields such as engineering, arts and media, health and hospitality. The goal is to prepare students for college, career and life.

The approach involves community partners that provide students with work experiences, education and training and incorporates the concept of smaller learning communities. It is under way at schools in Long Beach and San Diego.

At High Tech High in San Diego, learning is hands-on and project-based. Students make a presentation of what they’ve learned throughout the year instead of taking finals. They have created documentary films, published books about San Diego Bay and developed a DNA bar coding process to help law enforcement officials in Africa convict poachers.

All of the schools’ graduates are accepted to college, school officials said.
Teach the teachers by giving them access to the latest education strategies and instructional materials.

Develop within communities a college-going culture and expectations. This can be done by beginning to talk about college when children are in elementary school, involving parents and taking school field trips to colleges and universities.

Many experts point to the Long Beach College Promise as an example. The program guarantees graduates of Long Beach Unified high schools a tuition-free semester at Long Beach City College and guaranteed admission to CSU Long Beach for students who complete minimum college preparatory requirements or minimum community college transfer requirements.

“The only thing that’s going to make any difference is out-of-the-box thinking,” UCR’s Clute said. “Just doing more of the same isn’t going to cut it.”

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