Most West Contra Costa Unified High School Grads Do Not Take Required Courses For College

A majority of West Contra Costa Unified District high school graduates have not been taking the courses required to be accepted into state colleges and universities in California.

Statistics compiled by Ed Data show that in the 2010-2011 school year and the 2006-2007 school year about 35 percent of West Contra Costa high school graduates took the required courses.

In 2009-2010, about 45 percent of graduates had taken those courses.

The Ed Data stats show that 11 percent of graduates in 2008-2009 and 2 percent in 2007-2008 took the courses. However, those numbers appear to be either incomplete or in error.

Officials at the West Contra Costa Unified School District are checking those figures. Patch will update this article when they get back to us.

The average for Contra Costa County school districts for those five years was between 36 and 44 percent.

The courses are broken into seven categories. They’re called A-G courses simply because the university systems gave them those letter equivalents to help organize them better. They are:

A) History/social science (two years)

B) English (four years)

C) Mathematics (three years)

D) Laboratory sciences (two years)

E) Foreign language (two years)

F) Visual and performing arts (one year)

G) College prepartory elective (one year)

The college readiness courses aren’t without their controversy.

During the past decade, some school districts, including Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose and San Diego, have added the college preparedness courses to their graduation requirements, according to an article in the Contra Costa Times.

Educators say the new requirement will help more students prepare for college. However, critics point out the requirements might make it more difficult for struggling students to graduate from high school.