College preparedness showed slight improvement in 2020
Imperial County schools made slight progress in annual metrics weighing college readiness, but still lag behind the state average, according to the California Department of Education.
CDE recently announced the public release of both its 2019-2020 College/Career Measures Report and its Graduation Rate Additional Report.
According to the former, 40.9 percent of Imperial County’s graduating class of 2020 were deemed “prepared” on the College and Career Indicator, while 20 percent were considered “approaching prepared.” Statewide,
45.8 percent of students were considered prepared, and 16.7 percent were considered approaching prepared.
The percentage of prepared students Imperial County was a slight improvement on 2019, when 40 percent were in that category. It was also significantly better than in 2018, when 37.5 percent fell into that category.
That three-year improvement (3.4 percent) is roughly on par with the state’s (3.5 percent).
County schools did comparatively well in preparing English learners, with 19 percent classifying as prepared locally versus 17.2 percent statewide. Local students regarded as “socio-economically disadvantaged” were on par in college preparedness with the state average. Imperial County tallied 37.7 percent of those students as prepared versus 37.9 percent statewide.
The bad news was with graduation rates. In Imperial County, only 64.9 percent of seniors received their diploma. That compares to 86.5 percent statewide.
State law requires that CDE publish valid and reliable data that would have been included in the 2020 Dashboard. According to a release from the Imperial County Office of Education, the College/Career Indicator (CCI) will not be reported on the 2020 Dashboard, but it does show how well local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools are preparing students for likely success after graduation.
Only graduates can be classified as prepared or approaching prepared.
For schools and LEAs to demonstrate success on this state measure, high school graduates must meet at least one of the criteria in the prepared level, ICOE said.
Students can earn this prepared designation in a variety of ways, ICOE said. The first requirement is a high school diploma coupled with one of several options: CTE pathway completion, Smarter Balanced Summary Assessment, college credit, advanced placement, A-G requirements, state seal of biliteracy or military/ ROTC leadership science.
Additional pathways to preparedness added in 2020 include registered and non-registered pre-apprenticeships, state or federal job programs (available to DASS schools only), or transition classroom or work-based learning experiences (available only to students with IEPs who do not earn a standard high school diploma).
“Local school districts are working hard to prepare our students for a variety of college and career opportunities,” said Dr. Todd Finnell, Imperial County superintendent of schools. “Our county has continued to see growth year after year. There is, however, further work to be done to ensure that all students are fully-prepared for the world beyond high school.”
Additional graduation reports have been released by the California Department of Education. These reports provide both district level and site level graduation rates and can be found at https://www6.cde. ca.gov/californiamodel.