Assembly Member Wilmer Amina Carter, 62nd District - “At first the A-G issue was seen as a local issue, but when members of the legislative body went around the state and talked to local advocates, they saw it was a problem statewide. So it was the local advocates who were able to bring this to the attention of the legislators, and from there it became a statewide issue. Students, parents, and local advocates want to solve this problem because it’s a serious issue, and the best way to solve it is through legislation in Sacramento. The goal is to have the A-G legislation passed so that people can use the legislation as a tool to create change.”
Organizer, Jeremy Lahoud, Californians for Justice - “It’s hopeful that there’s discussion at the state level about implementing A-G. I know that there has been challenges in the past few years when it’s been introduced. So I think that if we can have more reforms at the local district level, it will provide a working model of how A-G can be implemented. It makes it more likely to succeed at the state level. We already have the San Jose district, and LAUSD, which is the largest district in the state. But it would be helpful to have more models at the district level to convince folks that it’s something feasible and positive to do at the state level. Another thing is that these district level efforts show that it’s not a top down mandate. If there are grassroots effort, and parents, teachers and students pushing for it, and not just legislators, it shows that it’s really a mandate from the grassroots.”
Assembly Member Joe Coto, District 23, Assembly Committee on Education, Latino Caucus Chair - “We are committed to ensuring that all California students excel and achieve high standards. We’re heartened by the support of many state-wide organizations which have come have come together to sponsor and work for this legislation. We have met with groups in Los Angeles, Oakland and Sacramento to promote these issues. The Applied Research Center, HOPE, the California State University System and many others are committed to a state-wide dialogue and a change in the way our schools prepare their students.”
Menachem Krajcer (far left) of the Applied Research Center meets with UC ACCORD researchers and other key players as efforts escalate to move the local A-G campaign to the statewide level.
Photo by Martin Lipton
GRASS ROOTS SPROUTING STATEWIDE MOVEMENT
By Christine Senteno
Editor
Grassroots efforts to ensure all high school students have access to rigorous coursework have blossomed into a statewide movement, according to senior researcher Menachem Krajcer of the Applied Research Center who is working on policy efforts in the legislature.
The rigorous course work he mentions are the classes the University of California and California State University campuses require of students applying for admission. The UC and CSU call them A through G classes. Noting that a college degree has become a prerequisite for a living wage, grassroots organizers have dubbed A-G the life prep curriculum.
Whatever the name, the courses include four years of English, three years of math (although four are recommended), two years of history, science and a foreign language, a year of performing arts and a college prep elective.
San Jose Unified School District was the first in the state to adopt a policy requiring all high school students to complete the A-G courses in order to graduate.
At first, there were fears the course work would be too difficult and kids would drop out. After a series of focus groups were conducted, the findings showed parents and students felt the teachers didn’t care about them. Linda Murray, the San Jose Superintendent at that time found out from their research, “The kids weren’t being challenged enough…. high school was a joke.”
The district extended school days, weeks and years to help students more time to learn. They offered tutoring to keep students from falling behind and they made sure that classes where not only racially integrated.
Results come quickly. Latinos completing the A-G courses rose from 18.5 percent in 2001 to 45.3 percent in 2003, according to researchers at UCLA’s All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity (ACCORD).
Two years ago in Los Angeles, grassroots groups such as - Alliance for a Better Community, Community Coalition and Inner City Struggle - took the A-G case to Los Angeles Unified School District. They won with the argument that the district was not preparing all students for college or a career after high school. Fifty-six percent of Latinos and 44 percent of African Americans dropped out from the class of 2003 alone. Further, only 34% of Latino and African-American ninth graders graduated four years later having completed the A-G sequence, according to research by UC/ACCORD.
ARC contends almost 30 different parent groups and student groups participated in the campaign to have LAUSD adopt A-G. The policy is in place today, but many support systems still need to be implemented. By 2008, every freshman in LAUSD will be enrolled in the A-G course sequence. Beginning in 2012 every student entering the ninth grade must complete the A-G course sequences in order to graduate. In some cases, a waiver will be available to special education students, English language learners and those who chose a career and technical education pathway.
Grassroots groups in other cities such as Long Beach and Montebello are pushing for the A-G policy. As far as Illinois and New York, college-access-for-all policies have been implemented.
Now, ARC is taking the A-G movement to Sacramento. Even though much of the legislative attention in Sacramento this year is on Governor Arnold Schwarznegger’s health care proposals, Krajcer contends there is also talk in the halls of the Capitol about equalizing college access. The renewed concern with college access is tied to Proposition 209’s legacy. The proposition that ended affirmative action in college admission and other places was passed by California ten years ago. Now, the number of students of color has not increased even though the general college going population has. On the elite UC campuses of UCLA and Berkeley, the enrollment is alarmingly low, particularly for African-American students.
California’s “A-G” College Preparatory Curriculum |
| A: History/Social Science—2 years required Two years of history/social science, including one year of world history, cultures and geography; and one year of U.S. history or one-half year of US History and one-half year of civics or American government |
B: English—4 years required |
| C: Mathematics—3 years required, 4 years recommended Three years of college-preparatory mathematics that include the topics covered in elementary and advanced algebra and two- and three- dimensional geometry. Approved integrated math courses may be used to fulfill part or all of this requirement, as may math courses taken in the seventh and eighth grades that your high school accepts as equivalent to its own math courses. |
| D: Laboratory Science—2 years required, 3 years recommended Two years of laboratory science providing fundamental knowledge in two of these three core disciplines: biology, chemistry and physics. Advanced laboratory science classes that have biology, chemistry, or physics as prerequisites and offer substantial additional material may be used to fulfill the requirement. The final two years of an approved three-year integrated science program may be used to fulfill this requirement. |
| E: Language Other than English—2 years required, 3 years recommended Two years of the same language other than English. Courses should emphasize speaking and understanding, and include instruction in grammar, vocabulary, reading, composition, and culture. Courses in languages other than English taken in the seventh and eight grades may be used to fulfill part of this requirement if your high school accepts them as equivalent to its own courses. |
| F: Visual and Performing Arts (VPA)—1 year required A single yearlong approved arts course from a single VPA discipline: dance, drama/theater, music, or visual art. |
| G: College Preparatory Electives—1 year required One year (two semesters), in additional those required “a-f” above, chosen from the following areas: visual and performing arts (non-introductory level courses), history, social science, English, advanced mathematics, laboratory science and language other than English (a third year in the language used for the “e” requirement or two years of another language). |
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Krajcer said many legislators are not only looking at admissions policies of universities but at the challenges students are facing before they even look at a college application.
“A light bulb is going on in Sacramento. Higher ed reform is looking at what is going on in K through 12th grade,” said Krajcer.
Assembly Member Joe Coto (D-San Jose) is recommending a pilot project to allot extra funding to low performing schools that commit to increasing their A-G class offerings to two-thirds. Another of Coto’s bills would reward low performing schools that increase their college going rate.
Assembly Member Wilmer Amina Carter (D-Rialto) is working on a bill that will notify families of the courses their students complete as they make their way through high school. This is particularly important because one of the challenges education advocates faced during their campaigns was that parents and students had never heard of A-G classes. On top of that, it is a routine occurrence for high school counselors in California to deal with case loads three to four times the national recommendation.
Krajcer explains, “By 2050, [California’s] student population will double to 11 million. Eight in ten will be students of color. If we don’t’ address these disparities now, it is not only going to be their problem, it is going to everyone’s problem because it is going to affect the economy.”
“What I think is exciting is that what has been happening at the local level is now starting to get to the state level,” he added.
