Education Equals Better Quality Of Life: How Are LEUSD Students Doing?

Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Kenneth M. Young delivered his 2013 State of Education address March 21 in Palm Springs, and he kicked it off with remarks about the relationship between education and quality life.

“Because of the relationship between education and economic conditions, the continued slump in our county’s economy has brought a great deal of attention on the outcomes of our public education system,” he said. “Economic stability and resurgence of employment are critical to our region's quality of life. High quality education and technical training are vital keys to solving this repressive, long-term problem.” 

According to Young, key to a good quality of life for students is preparing them for college and work. High school graduates earn more than $10,000 a year more than dropouts, he said.

The county’s high school graduation rate was 79.9 percent for the 2010-11 school year, which was higher than the state average of 76.7 percent.

In the Lake Elsinore Unified School District, the graduation rate was higher than than both averages. In the 2010-11 school year, the LEUSD graduated 89.8 percent of students, according to the most recent figures available from the California Department of Education.

Educational technology is playing a larger role than ever in classrooms, Young said. Students are taking advantage of online lessons they can access on home computers or portable, handheld smart devices to receive instruction on their own time.

In addition, a group of school districts in the county are collaborating with the Riverside Unified Virtual School to offer online courses to students across the county.

The LEUSD offers its K-12 Southern California Online Academy. The Academy is a dependent charter that opened on Aug. 11, 2011 to provide students with an alternative tuition-free public education. Additionally, the district offers a Virtual Learning Center for students, with a current emphasis on math, according to the most recent class schedule.

Young called on educators to help students prepare for college, citing figures that 60 percent of California students are not ready for college or good paying jobs and need remedial classes in English and math courses when they reach college.

California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) results for Mathematics and English-Language Arts (ELA) in the LEUSD reflect better findings. In California, all high school students must pass the exam to earn a high school diploma. When looking at total test results for 10^th graders in 2012, 82 percent passed the Math portion of the CAHSEE and 83 percent passed the English Language Arts portion.

Students first take the CAHSEE in grade 10. If they don’t pass, they have more chances to take the test. In grade 11, they can take the test two times. In grade 12, they have up to five times to take the test.

Additional figures show that in the LEUSD’s class of 2008-09, 60.3 percent went on to enroll in postsecondary institutions within 16 months of finishing high school, according to the most recent figures from the CDE.

Young said students who aren’t ready for college but have the desire to attend fall behind.

“This translates into five years of tuition, books as well as room-and-board to get a degree instead of four,” he said. “It also means they’re delayed a year in getting out into the workforce so they can begin their career and start earning a paycheck. It’s no wonder the nationwide college dropout rate is around 35 percent.” 

Young said that a number of schools in the county do have significant percentages of students who score at college and career ready levels despite high poverty or high numbers of English learners.

In the 2010-11 school year, 888 LEUSD students took AP exams, a significant chunk of the 15,943 students who took the exams countywide, according to the most recent CDE figures.

For the same school year, 520 seniors took the SATs, which correlated to 35.18 percent of 12^th graders, according to the CDE figures. However, SAT test scores were slightly below county averages, and even further behind state averages.

Young reported that more than 72,800 high school students in Riverside County took Career Technical Education or Regional Occupational classes last year. CTE and ROP classes have been shown to help students stay in school and graduate on time, as well as preparing them to go either directly into the workforce or to college, he said.

In the LEUSD, high school campuses do offer CTE-ROP classes. Among training students can receive is working with animals, banking and financing, medical office work, culinary arts, and others.