Student success in secondary and postsecondary education is crucial to the future hopes and opportunities of California students, and to the future of the state as a whole.

This section of our website—which will continue to grow—will offer information on four segments of the secondary-to-postsecondary continuum:

• Middle grades education in California.
• Issues facing the modern high school in the state.
• The California Community Colleges.
• The University of California, the California State University, and other postsecondary options.

Student Success

Some California students do well academically in the middle and high school grades, and leave public secondary education well-prepared and positioned for higher education. For example, about one-in-five 11th graders in 2009 entered their junior years having already completed Algebra II. A similar proportion of public high school graduates in the state enrolls immediately in either the University of California or the California State University systems.

But California's public higher education institutions are concerned about the readiness of some incoming students. Remediation rates among CSU first-time freshmen in mathematics, though lower than 10 years ago, have remained at about 37% since fall 2003. During the same time, remediation rates in English have remained between 45% and 48%. The problem is widely perceived to be more extensive at the California Community Colleges, but is more difficult to document on a statewide basis.

Policymakers and educators also worry that too many students become disengaged during secondary education, as illustrated by high dropout rates. Experts differ on how this problem should be measured. But 2007-08 estimates by the California Department of Education (CDE) suggest that about one-in-five high school students drops out between grades 9 and 12. The statistics are even starker for some student groups. The CDE estimates that one-in-four Latino and one-in-three African American students drops out during high school.

One response to these concerns has been efforts to improve the rigor and relevance of the high school experience.

Read more about High School Reform Approaches >

The middle grades provide another opportunity to ensure more students are on track for secondary success. State and national organizations increasingly point to the middle grades as a crucial time for engaging students in school and in an academically rigorous curriculum that prepares them for high school. In addition, recent research on the early identification of students at risk for dropping out of school shows that many of these students might be identified and provided additional assistance during the middle grades.

Education and a Changing Economy

Success in pursuing a quality secondary education and some sort of further education after high school-whether a four-year degree, an associate degree, a technical certification, or on-the-job training-is essential if students are to have fulfilling and successful lives as adults.

A high school diploma alone is no longer sufficient to provide today's K-12 students with reliable access to a living wage, much less upward mobility or a middle-class lifestyle. On average, adults with higher levels of education tend to earn more. But a range of secondary-to-postsecondary paths can lead to success in the workplace. For example, national weekly earnings data for the second quarter of 2009 show that-among U.S. workers who are at least 25 years old and working full-time-workers whose highest level of education is an associate degree or some college often earn more than the lowest-earning quartile of workers who have attained a bachelor's (but not an advanced) degree.

Student success in charting paths through secondary and postsecondary education is also important for the prosperity of California as a whole. Analyses by various organizations in the state point to California's growing need for highly-skilled workers, both with and without four-year degrees, as new industries emerge and the baby boomer generation enters retirement age. The state's economy and the standard of living of its citizenry depend, in part, on today's students being ready to take on these roles and responsibilities tomorrow.

The California Community Colleges provide crucial paths to adult success for many students. Among other services, the 110 colleges in the system offer open access to associate's degrees, career technical certificates, and transfer to four-year institutions. In 2007 in California, 70% of Latino, 66% of African American, and 61% of white high school graduates who enrolled in a public college the following fall did so at a community college. And although the majority of public college-going Asian and Pacific Islander graduates went to either UC or CSU, about 41% began postsecondary study at a community college. Improving students' chances of success when they arrive at a community college is a key topic of current education policy.