Area high schools show mixed success at sending grads off to collegeDel Valle, Reagan among high schools with lowest rates.
The seniors leaving Del Valle High School weekdays at 4 p.m. are on their way to after-school jobs, talking with friends in the parking lot, rushing off to track practice. Many don't have time for conversation about their futures, which will change dramatically when they graduate. Those who do aren't surprised that a study released this month shows that only about one-third of their peers entered Texas colleges the fall after graduation — a rate much lower than the state average of 49 percent. Other Central Texas districts send below-average numbers of students to college, but Del Valle's rate is the lowest. Those figures, however, don't include Texas students who enroll in out-of-state colleges, enlist in the military or attend certain trade schools — as many as 17 percent statewide. "Overall, I'd say the students here don't have too much motivation," said Adrien Sanchez, who, like many students here, said he has no plans beyond high school. He hasn't applied to college and isn't sure what he wants to do after he graduates in May. Del Valle is one of four Travis County school districts sending fewer students than the state average to Texas colleges the fall after graduation; Austin, Manor and Lago Vista are the others. A school's poverty rate is one of the greatest indicators of how many of its students are likely to go on to college, analysts say, but a lack of self-motivation and support from family members and high school courses that fail to prepare students for the rigors of higher education are also to blame. Some Del Valle High students say that a sense of mediocrity and indifference pervades their school and that there are a lack of role models and the sense that securing a job after graduation is more important than pursuing a degree. "You look around at what everyone before you has done, and there's really nothing to look forward to," said Sanchez, 17. "There's really no one to look up to. I'm pretty sure there are things that could be done to get more of us interested in college. I'm just not sure what they would be. " In the Austin district, 46 percent of seniors who graduated in the 2004-05 school year enrolled in Texas colleges that fall. Central Texas business leaders don't take the issue lightly. They say lower education levels among area workers will probably result in lower-paying jobs, a less skilled work force and a weaker economy. And the trend is getting worse, not better. Statewide, in the 2001-02 school year, 55 percent of high school graduates enrolled in Texas colleges, compared with 49 percent in 2004-05. Austin already has lower percentages of residents with high school diplomas and bachelor's degrees when compared with other areas of the country it competes with economically, including Boston, Raleigh, N.C., and Fairfax County, Va. David Wilkinson, director of research at Skillpoint Alliance, formerly the Capital Area Training Foundation, said the region's future depends on getting more students in the college pipeline. "Before coming here, employers want to know they'll have access to a population made up of highly educated workers," Wilkinson said. Poverty a factor The overall percentage of students the Austin school district sends to college may not seem that bad compared with others in the area, but the average hides a wide discrepancy in college attendance among high schools. Only 23 percent of graduates from Reagan High School, where 78 percent of students are from low-income families, were attending Texas colleges the fall after graduation, compared with 69 percent of students who attend Bowie High School, where 7 percent of students are from low-income families. The trend held in nearly every case: Fewer students enroll in Texas colleges after graduating from schools with high poverty rates. In Del Valle, an unincorporated area bordering Austin in Southeast Travis County, median household incomes are about $29,000, 39 percent less than the overall county median, according to census figures. "No question. The number one problem here is money. We're not Westlake," said Del Valle senior Justin Miller, referring to Westlake High School in the higher-income Eanes school district. Preliminary results from a study by Skillpoint Alliance show that poverty is a major indicator of which students are less likely to go to college. "One of the things we found is that . . . if a school had more than 40 percent of its students coming from low-income families, those were the schools in our sample that had a lower share of students going on to college," said Deanna Schexnayder, an associate director of the study, which surveyed 200 high school seniors from four local school districts, including Austin and Del Valle. By studying student demographics, study habits, post-secondary planning practices and other data, the alliance hopes to find ways to increase area college-going rates. The early findings showed many students thought the importance of keeping high grade-point averages in preparing for college was not stressed early enough. Hispanic students, in general, reported feeling less prepared than their peers. Students who came from better-educated families or reported being encouraged by family and friends to attend college were more inclined to go to college and participate in college preparatory activities. "They said things like, 'There should be a class that prepares you for the tests and financial aid and everything else that's needed for college,' " Schexnayder said. "The hope is to come up with data that gives suggestions for improvement in multiple areas." 'Distractions' come up For students at Del Valle, just making it to their senior year can be difficult. From 2000-01 to 2004-05, according to the Texas Education Agency, 558 freshmen dwindled to 291 seniors. "So many of the girls get pregnant and the boys start working," said Misty Murtha, a Del Valle senior who regularly works the 4 to 11:30 p.m. shift at a Sonic drive-in. Murtha started working to help her family. Now, she said she wants to save some of that money and put it toward a car and classes at Austin Community College. "For most of us, there are too many distractions," she said. Sandra Dowdy, Del Valle's assistant superintendent of curriculum, said teachers and counselors are fighting apathy from students and parents. "For some, the biggest issue is taking that first step, leaving the home, and the financial issues associated with that," Dowdy said. "Then, there are others who don't want to graduate, because they don't know where they want to go. In the end, it's the same with both groups: You need to first get them to understand the importance of education, and you need everyone to be on board." Del Valle senior Megan Reinhardt plans to attend Texas A&M University in the fall. She said some of her peers don't take college entrance exams because they say they don't want to go to the trouble of filling out the application. Some, she said, sleep through the scholarship announcements read over the intercom and avoid the visits from college recruiters. "In my family, it was never a question if I'd go to college," she said. "Most kids at this school just want to go to work." To interest students in continuing their education after graduation, Del Valle officials are asking local businesses to offer entrepreneur programs for students with specific interests. Carmelo's restaurant, Dowdy said, offers a culinary and restaurant management class that is very popular among students. At Reagan, where less than a quarter enroll in Texas colleges, students said apathy is in the past. The Austin district started a college readiness program, Gear Up, when the Reagan class of 2006 was in seventh grade. Brittany Guice, among the first seniors to benefit from Gear Up, plans to attend Texas Southern University in the fall and said the early and intensive college counseling the program provided helped build interest in college among her peers. "Most of the seniors here are sick of every time they turn around, hearing about how bad Reagan is," she said. "Come back next year, and I think you'll see those numbers change." Expectations are low State Higher Education Commissioner Raymond Paredes said a pedestrian attitude toward going to college still plagues many schools around the state. He recalled a recent visit to a middle school in San Antonio where he encountered a sign stating that the school's goal was simply to meet the state achievement averages. "That's the kind of attitude that needs changing," he said. "What we need to do is increase expectations." When state lawmakers meet again in regular session, Paredes said, he plans to present proposals to increase college readiness, including initiatives that would help students apply to college and increase the academic rigor of their senior year of high school. Taking challenging courses in all four years of high school is crucial, according to a recently released report from the U.S. Department of Education, because they are the strongest indicator of whether a student will graduate from college. Paredes said academically gifted seniors should be encouraged to take college preparatory and dual credit courses, while those who need additional help should prepare for college entrance exams. "We need to better align high school exit exams with college entrance exams," Paredes said. The Texas Education Agency, "meanwhile, is working on including college readiness as an accountability measure for graduation, which I think is a very important step in the right direction." The state must look for successful programs with statewide potential, he said, such as ACC's College Connection program, in which seniors in participating high schools are given help with financial aid forms and required to fill out applications. The program, which began last year, resulted in 58 2004-05 graduates from Del Valle going to ACC in the fall, compared with 24 the year before. State support for such programs will be increasingly important, he said. Gear Up, the program in which Reagan participates, would be eliminated in President Bush's 2007 budget in favor of a program that builds on his No Child Left Behind law. Paredes said state lawmakers probably would fund such programs if they produce measurable results. lheinauer@statesman.com; 445-3694 |