About 53 percent of Hawaii’s 2011 public school graduates went on to two- or four-year colleges, up 3 percentage points from the year before.
The uptick was one of several pieces of good news in the state’s annual college and career readiness indicators report, scheduled for release today.
The report also found:
» More students took Advanced Placement courses. Some 37 percent of seniors took at least one AP course last year. That’s up 5 percentage points from the year before and compares with 28 percent in 2009.
While more students are taking the courses, the percentage of students who passed an AP exam with a 3 or better, making them eligible to earn college credit, remained about the same at 41 percent.
» About 80 percent of high school graduates who went to college enrolled at the University of Hawaii. Of those, 32 percent had to take a remedial English course (down from 35 percent in 2009).
The percentage of students who had to take remedial math remained steady, at about 36 percent.
» While SAT scores dipped in 2011, the percentage of students who took the college entrance exam was 51 percent, up from 44 percent in 2010.
The report was compiled by P-20 Partnerships for Education, a nonprofit group that works to strengthen the "education pipeline" from early childhood to college.
Karen Lee, P-20 executive director, said the report shows that while there is still much work to be done to meet ambitious goals for Hawaii’s high school graduates, the statistics are moving in the right direction.
She said the increase in the college-going rate is particularly heartening.
"Going up 3 (percentage points) is huge," she said. "We’re going the right way."
Hawaii’s college-going rate has hovered at about 50 percent for several years.
As part of a host of efforts to improve education in the islands, the state has set a goal to reach a college-going rate of 62 percent — the national median — by 2018.
P-20, led by the Good Beginnings Alliance, the Department of Education and the University of Hawaii, puts together the "indicators" report to gauge how academically ready Hawaii’s grads are for life after high school. The figures were first compiled for the class of 2008, and also include school-by-school statistics.
The report, for example, shows that Kalani High once again topped the state for the percentage of students who went on to higher education, with 81 percent of its 2011 graduates enrolling in a two- or four-year college.
Four high schools tied for a distant second place: Mililani, Roosevelt, Moanalua and Waiakea each had 67 percent of its graduates enrolling in college, the report said.
Kalani High Principal Mitch Otani said socioeconomic factors probably play a big part in the school’s postsecondary enrollment numbers. But he also said Kalani promotes college constantly and that its guidance counselors are always working to find students scholarships and other support.
"We try to find the right schools for them to go to," Otani said.
Waianae High had the lowest college-going rate among noncharter schools, at 32 percent.
Nearby Nanakuli High had a college-going rate of 33 percent, which is a marked improvement over previous years. In 2010, 27 percent of Nanakuli graduates went to college. In 2009 just 20 percent did.
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On the Net:
» See P-20’s statewide and school-by-school college and career readiness indicators reports at www.p20hawaii.org.
