Fewer than half of African American, Latino, and low-income ninth graders from the Class of 2010 were expected to go to college, according to Repairing the Pipeline: A Look at the Gaps in California’s High School to College Transition, an analysis by the Education Trust–West. As shown in the graph to the right, the estimated college-going rates for these students were 20 to 30 percentage points below those of their white and Asian peers.
Based on new data from the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS), the analysis finds that only 27 percent of California high schools serving high proportions of African American students and 10 percent of high schools serving high proportions of Latino students have high school graduation and college-going rates higher than the state average.
The analysis offers several recommendations for ensuring that more low-income students and students of color graduate from high school and go to college. For example, it suggests that high schools provide struggling students with additional education support and opportunities for credit recovery to decrease dropout rates. Additionally, it argues that high school graduation requirements should be aligned with state college entrance criteria. As evidence of this disconnect, the report notes that only one out of every six African American and Latino ninth graders in 2005 graduated in 2009 with the course work necessary to be eligible for entry into the University of California or California State University systems.
The complete analysis is available at http://www.edtrust.org/sites/edtrust.org/files/Repairing%20the%20Pipeline_June%202012.pdf.