IN THE
LOS ANGELES
COMMUNTY COLLEGES
George Prather, Ph.D.
Office of Institutional Research and Information
______
August 2002
1
Los Angeles Community Colleges / Office of Institutional Research and Information, August 7, 2002, PageCONCURRENT HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT ENROLLMENT
IN THE LOS ANGELES COMMUNITY COLLEGES
The numbers of concurrent high school students enrolled in the Los Angeles Community Colleges have increased dramatically in recent years. Since Fall 1996 the total number of concurrent high school students in the nine colleges has grown from 3,000 to almost 17,000.[1] This growth has been dramatic and steady for concurrent students enrolled on the college campuses and in non-P.E. classes organized for them at their high schools. Enrollment by concurrent high school students in other off-campus and on-line classes has been more episodic, while significant reduction in enrollment in P.E. classes began to take place in Fall 2001.
Types of Concurrent Enrollment
For the purposes of this analysis, concurrent high school students have been classified according to the location and nature of the college classes in which they are enrolled as shown in Table 1 below. In Fall 2001, 4,038 students were enrolled in courses fully integrated with regular college students. Another 1,231 were enrolled in classes that met on a college campus but in which high school students predominated. A third group consisted of 1,863 who were enrolled in non-P.E. classes that met on a high school campus, while a fourth group was composed of 591 students enrolled in other off campus locations or in on-line classes. Finally, 9,257 students were enrolled exclusively in Physical Education classes offered on their high school campuses, a number that was down from the Fall 2000 peak of 16,971.[2]
Subsequent Enrollment
The purpose of this categorization was to examine the probability of concurrent high school students continuing on into regular college matriculation. We theorized that concurrent students more fully integrated into the regular college program would be more likely to continue their enrollment in the same college after finishing high school. This proved to be true at least for the cohort we were able to examine. In Fall 1999, somewhat over half (3,123) of the concurrent high school students taking credit classes were 17 or 18 years old. These could be presumed to be high school seniors. In Table 2 we show that of this group overall, 19% had later attended (by Fall 2001) the same college as that of their concurrent high school enrollment, subsequent to their high school graduation. However, 35% of those who attended classes with regular college students subsequently enrolled, while only 24% of those who were segregated on the college campus with other high school students later attended the college. Of those concurrent high school students who attended college classes on their high school campuses, 14% of those in non-P.E. classes later enrolled in the college offering these classes, while only 8% off those enrolled in P.E. classes on high school campuses subsequently enrolled in the offering college.
Table 1: Concurrent High School Students
Fall Terms, 1996-2001
On Campus, Integrated into Regular College Classes
Fall 1996 / 113 / 66 / 136 / 74 / 451 / 138 / 196 / 270 / 106 / 1,550Fall 1997 / 171 / 93 / 126 / 160 / 436 / 141 / 242 / 289 / 128 / 1,786
Fall 1998 / 222 / 146 / 225 / 133 / 472 / 214 / 193 / 356 / 134 / 2,095
Fall 1999 / 426 / 177 / 198 / 160 / 574 / 198 / 229 / 553 / 227 / 2,722
Fall 2000 / 417 / 219 / 221 / 189 / 733 / 295 / 407 / 673 / 210 / 3,364
Fall 2001 / 581 / 321 / 283 / 247 / 857 / 271 / 412 / 817 / 268 / 4,057
On Campus, in Classes Primarily for High School Students*
Fall 1996 / 75 / 442 / 128 / 19 / 20 / 40 / 109 / 300 / 16 / 1,149Fall 1997 / 247 / 361 / 131 / 14 / 25 / 120 / 79 / 142 / 9 / 1,128
Fall 1998 / 618 / 77 / 172 / 35 / 12 / 101 / 114 / 296 / 109 / 1,534
Fall 1999 / 248 / 102 / 107 / 33 / 70 / 127 / 99 / 342 / 29 / 1,157
Fall 2000 / 149 / 36 / 81 / 65 / 260 / 24 / 456 / 288 / 17 / 1,376
Fall 2001 / 70 / 15 / 130 / 11 / 231 / 145 / 214 / 360 / 67 / 1,243
In High School Based Classes**
Fall 1996 / 0 / 3 / 0 / 388 / 0 / 0 / 28 / 0 / 64 / 483Fall 1997 / 0 / 1 / 40 / 193 / 19 / 94 / 0 / 0 / 56 / 403
Fall 1998 / 0 / 30 / 0 / 480 / 0 / 66 / 25 / 0 / 153 / 754
Fall 1999 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 444 / 40 / 77 / 0 / 335 / 184 / 1,081
Fall 2000 / 0 / 63 / 446 / 427 / 85 / 0 / 71 / 153 / 282 / 1,527
Fall 2001 / 12 / 379 / 296 / 394 / 273 / 0 / 16 / 223 / 353 / 1,946
In Other Off Campus and On Line Classes
Fall 1996 / 10 / 15 / 44 / 1 / 222 / 22 / 314Fall 1997 / 25 / 46 / 36 / 1 / 173 / 156 / 437
Fall 1998 / 19 / 51 / 50 / 77 / 2 / 450 / 1 / 90 / 740
Fall 1999 / 125 / 188 / 125 / 6 / 6 / 110 / 560
Fall 2000 / 76 / 170 / 4 / 60 / 69 / 115 / 107 / 97 / 698
Fall 2001 / 38 / 128 / 11 / 117 / 311 / 49 / 42 / 2 / 3 / 87 / 788
Subtotal Concurrent High School Students Exclusive of High School-Based PE Classes
Fall 1996 / 188 / 521 / 264 / 496 / 515 / 178 / 334 / 792 / 186 / 22 / 3,496Fall 1997 / 418 / 480 / 297 / 413 / 516 / 355 / 322 / 604 / 193 / 156 / 3,754
Fall 1998 / 859 / 304 / 397 / 698 / 561 / 381 / 334 / 1,102 / 397 / 90 / 5,123
Fall 1999 / 674 / 405 / 493 / 762 / 690 / 402 / 334 / 1,210 / 440 / 110 / 5,520
Fall 2000 / 642 / 488 / 752 / 741 / 1,147 / 319 / 1,049 / 1,221 / 509 / 97 / 6,965
Fall 2001 / 701 / 843 / 720 / 769 / 1,672 / 465 / 684 / 1,402 / 691 / 87 / 8,034
In High School-Based PE Classes Only
Fall 1996 / 2 / 2Fall 1997 / 1,198 / 392 / 1,590
Fall 1998 / 2,504 / 240 / 884 / 3,628
Fall 1999 / 5,522 / 1,171 / 2,045 / 8,738
Fall 2000 / 7,361 / 929 / 30 / 5,910 / 2,642 / 16,872
Fall 2001 / 3,345 / 903 / 257 / 672 / 1,314 / 2,483 / 8,974
Total Concurrent High School Students
Fall 1996 / 188 / 521 / 264 / 496 / 515 / 180 / 334 / 792 / 186 / 22 / 3,498Fall 1997 / 418 / 1,678 / 297 / 413 / 516 / 355 / 714 / 604 / 193 / 156 / 5,344
Fall 1998 / 859 / 2,808 / 637 / 698 / 561 / 381 / 334 / 1,102 / 1,281 / 90 / 8,751
Fall 1999 / 674 / 5,927 / 1,664 / 762 / 690 / 402 / 334 / 1,210 / 2,485 / 110 / 14,258
Fall 2000 / 642 / 7,849 / 1.681 / 741 / 1,177 / 319 / 6,959 / 1,221 / 3,151 / 97 / 23,837
Fall 2001 / 701 / 4,188 / 1,623 / 769 / 1,929 / 1,137 / 1,998 / 1,402 / 3,174 / 87 / 17,008
*50% or more of students in these classes were concurrently enrolled in high school. In most cases, high school students were 90% or more of the students enrolled.
**Includes a small number of non-credit only students beginning in Fall 1999.
For this part of the analysis, students were also flagged according to whether they came from the local college service area, from other areas within the Los Angeles Community College District or from one of the surrounding community college districts. Not surprisingly, the probability of subsequent regular college enrollment was much greater for those high school students from the local area: 26% of students from the local area subsequently enrolled, versus 13% of those from other areas within the LACCD and only 5% of those from other districts. However, the impact of fuller integration into the on-campus college program on subsequent regular enrollment remained clear regardless of the area of origin of the student.
Table 2: Concurrent Students
Who Enrolled Subsequent to High School Graduation
% Continuing in Same College
Nature of Fall 1999 Enrollment / From All Areas / From Local Service Area / From Other LACCD College Areas / From Surrounding Districts / Number of StudentsFully Integrated / 35% / 39% / 26% / ** / 973
On Campus, Predominantly HS Students / 24% / 29% / 12% / ** / 305
Off Campus Other Than High School / 19% / 25% / 11% / ** / 181
High School-Based Credit Classes / 14% / 21% / 8% / ** / 331
High School-Based Non-Credit Classes / 8% / 14% / 4% / ** / 123
High School-Based P.E. / 8% / 11% / 9% / 4% / 1,333
All Enrollment Categories / 19% / 26% / 13% / 5% / 3,246
Total Students / 3,246 / 1,751 / 973 / 522
**Numbers too small to compute percentages.
Age of Concurrent Students
We have also endeavored to examine any change since 1996 in the ages of concurrent high school students. The absolute numbers of those of each age have increased substantially, as shown in Table 3. The change in the age distributions has been less significant though there has been some movement toward younger students. In Fall 1996, 19% of the 3,600 students were under the age of sixteen. By Fall 2001, this had increased to almost 26% of the over 8,000 students concurrent high students exclusive of those enrolled in high school-based physical education courses. Those engaged only in the high school physical educations classes tended to be somewhat younger with a median age of 15 in Fall 2001 rather than the 16 that was the case for all of the other concurrent students.[3]
Table 3: Age Distribution of Concurrent High School Students*
Lt 13 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19Fall 1996
/ 63 / 50 / 208 / 369 / 922 / 1,495 / 362 / 143 / 3,612Fall 1997 / 110 / 110 / 191 / 377 / 999 / 1,552 / 418 / 117 / 3,874
Fall 1998 / 77 / 90 / 361 / 714 / 1,551 / 1,958 / 397 / 110 / 5,258
Fall 1999 / 116 / 159 / 388 / 803 / 1,764 / 2,313 / 489 / 122 / 6,154
Fall 2000 / 134 / 152 / 433 / 1,016 / 2,115 / 2,645 / 606 / 172 / 7,273
Fall 2001 / 150 / 177 / 657 / 1,093 / 2,266 / 2,903 / 670 / 213 / 8,129
Cumulative Percent
/ Lt 14 / Lt 15 / Lt 16 / Lt 17 / Lt 18 / Lt 19 / Lt 20Fall 1996
/ 1.7 / 3.1 / 8.9 / 19.1 / 44.6 / 86.0 / 96.0 / 100.0%Fall 1997 / 2.8 / 5.7 / 10.6 / 20.3 / 46.1 / 86.2 / 97.0 / 100.0%
Fall 1998 / 1.5 / 3.2 / 10.0 / 23.6 / 53.1 / 90.4 / 97.9 / 100.0%
Fall 1999 / 1.9 / 4.5 / 10.8 / 23.8 / 52.5 / 90.1 / 98.0 / 100.0%
Fall 2000 / 1.8 / 3.9 / 9.9 / 23.9 / 52.9 / 89.3 / 97.6 / 100.0%
Fall 2001 / 1.8 / 4.0 / 12.1 / 25.6 / 53.4 / 89.1 / 97.4 / 100.0%
*Excludes those only enrolled in high school-based PE classes.
There is some variation in the age distribution patterns by college, as shown in Table 4. Southwest and West have somewhat larger proportions of younger students. Trade-Tech has a noticeably younger group, as does ITV. Harbor has a substantial group of students under 13, though its median age of all concurrent high students is comparable to that of the other colleges.
Table 4: Age Distribution of Concurrent High School Students
Cumulative Percent, Fall 2001*
Lt 13
/ Lt 14 / Lt 15 / Lt 16 / Lt 17 / Lt 18 / Lt 19 / Lt 20 / # of StudentsCity / 0.6 / 1.6 / 8.2 / 24.6 / 52.8 / 87.0 / 97.7 / 100.0% / 706
East / 3.2 / 6.8 / 12.8 / 25.7 / 52.3 / 88.4 / 96.9 / 100.0% / 870
Harbor / 10.2 / 11.4 / 16.9 / 27.2 / 53.1 / 88.7 / 97.8 / 100.0% / 727
Mission / 0.6 / 1.5 / 6.4 / 21.8 / 52.4 / 89.2 / 96.6 / 100.0% / 776
Pierce / 0.0 / 1.9 / 9.5 / 25.2 / 55.3 / 95.1 / 99.2 / 100.0% / 1,680
Southwest / 3.0 / 7.3 / 26.1 / 41.8 / 67.9 / 91.6 / 98.3 / 100.0% / 467
Trade-Tech / 1.3 / 3.4 / 8.7 / 17.6 / 42.1 / 80.7 / 94.6 / 100.0% / 705
Valley / 0.7 / 2.8 / 12.0 / 24.2 / 50.2 / 86.5 / 96.4 / 100.0% / 1,411
West / 0.9 / 4.6 / 18.0 / 31.2 / 63.1 / 91.1 / 97.6 / 100.0% / 699
ITV / 0.0 / 0.0 / 3.4 / 11.4 / 33.0 / 84.1 / 98.9 / 100.0% / 88
*Excludes those only enrolled in high school-based PE classes.
Level of Classes
Whatever their age, concurrent high school students appear to be enrolling in relatively high-level courses, with some notable variation among the colleges. Again, excluding the PE classes on high school campus, 73% of all FTES by high school students was in transfer level courses. This compares to 67% of FTES for LACCD students as a whole. These figures ranged, however, from a low of 54% of FTES by high school students at Trade-Tech to a high of 90% at Harbor. Almost 10% of FTES by high school students was in non-credit classes, reaching a high among the colleges of 34% at Mission which accounted for 46% of all non-credit FTES by high school students District wide. There was also some variation in this pattern by the age with younger students less likely to enroll in the higher-level classes. Among those students under 14 years of age, 58% of their accumulated FTES was in transfer level courses while over 18% was in non-credit classes.
Table 5: Proportion of FTES by Course Levelin Classes Taken by Concurrent High School Students, Fall 2001*
City / East / Harbor / Mission / Pierce / South- west / Trade- Tech / Valley / West / ITV / Total HS / All StudentsTransfer / 78.9 / 66.0 / 90.0 / 55.0 / 84.8 / 54.6 / 54.4 / 85.9 / 63.9 / 89.9 / 72.8 / 66.6
AA Applicable / 6.7 / 13.9 / 4.6 / 5.4 / 5.4 / 18.0 / 17.4 / 3.8 / 11.7 / 10.1 / 8.4 / 16.4
2 Courses below / 3.4 / 4.1 / 0.7 / 1.3 / 1.9 / 5.9 / 11.4 / 7.6 / 8.6 / 0.0 / 4.8 / 5.7
3+Courses below / 5.7 / 3.5 / 4.0 / 4.1 / 0.9 / 16.2 / 8.1 / 2.2 / 1.2 / 0.0 / 4.1 / 6.1
Non Credit / 5.2 / 12.5 / 0.6 / 34.2 / 7.0 / 5.3 / 8.8 / 0.4 / 14.7 / 0.0 / 9.8 / 5.1
Special/not classified / 0.1 / 0.0 / 0.0 / 0.0 / 0.0 / 0.0 / 0.0 / 0.1 / 0.0 / 0.0 / 0.0 / 0.1
100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0%
FTES / 115 / 128 / 111 / 175 / 230 / 80 / 127 / 229 / 101 / 12 / 1,308
*High school-based PE classes are excluded.
Subject Areas of Enrollment
With minor exceptions, concurrent high school students are also not unlike all other students in the subject matter of their enrollments, as seen in Table 6. Heaviest enrollment by high school students in Fall 2001 was in history and social science classes, accounting for 12% of the FTES by high school students compared to 10% of FTES for all students. This was followed by the fine arts, with the younger concurrent students enrolling in these fields in particularly large numbers. The youngest students were also more likely to enroll in math, but surprisingly less likely to take English classes. The somewhat larger proportions of enrollment by concurrent students in the fine arts and also fields such as foreign languages and psychology would suggest that college classes are being used to enrich the curriculum of the middle and high schools.
Table 6: FTES by Subject Areain Classes Taken by Concurrent High School Students, Fall 2001*
14 and Older / Under 14 / All High School Students / All StudentsDiscipline or Discipline Group / FTES / % / FTES / % / FTES / % / %
History & Social Sciences / 157.6 / 12.3 / 1.0 / 2.5 / 158.6 / 12.0 / 9.5
Fine Arts-Art, Music, Theater / 137.8 / 10.8 / 10.6 / 26.4 / 148.4 / 11.2 / 7.3
Mathematics / 124.5 / 9.7 / 5.4 / 13.4 / 129.9 / 9.8 / 10.6
Tutoring/Learning Skills/Dev Com/Basic Skills / 94.6 / 7.4 / 8.2 / 20.4 / 102.8 / 7.8 / 6.3
Foreign Languages / 87.1 / 6.8 / 3.7 / 9.2 / 90.8 / 6.9 / 3.1
Psychology / 88.8 / 6.9 / 1.4 / 3.4 / 90.2 / 6.8 / 3.1
English / 83.6 / 6.5 / 1.5 / 3.8 / 85.2 / 6.4 / 8.3
Physical Education & Health / 80.7 / 6.3 / 2.1 / 5.1 / 82.8 / 6.3 / 6.5
Vocational Education (non credit) / 64.7 / 5.1 / 1.3 / 3.1 / 66.0 / 5.0 / 2.1
Physical Sciences / 54.9 / 4.3 / 0.1 / 0.2 / 55.0 / 4.2 / 3.9
Business / 53.5 / 4.2 / 0.1 / 0.2 / 53.6 / 4.1 / 4.9
Public Services (primarily Admin of Justice) / 46.4 / 3.6 / 0.9 / 2.3 / 47.3 / 3.6 / 1.4
Computers / 44.7 / 3.5 / 0.9 / 2.3 / 45.6 / 3.5 / 4.4
Subtotal / 1,119 / 87.3% / 37.17 / 92.5% / 1156.0 / 87.5% / 71.4%
All Groups / 1,281 / 100.0% / 40.20 / 100.0% / 1321.5 / 100.0% / 100.0%
*High school-based PE and academy-based Administration of Justice classes are excluded.
Success Rates
Finally, we have examined the course success rates of concurrent high school students by their various types of enrollments and by college. In Table 7, we see that successful course completion by concurrent students is comparable to that of all students. Successful completion in the high school-based PE classes is nearly universal, but even with such classes excluded, 68% of all enrollments by concurrent students were successful compared to 70% for all students. The rate for all students is itself inflated by the high school-based PE classes and probably in addition by the academy-based Administration of Justice classes. It can also be seen from Table 7 that success rates for concurrent students are noticeably higher when the classes are organized primarily for them; 77% of enrollments by concurrent students were successful in on-campus classes in which were students were the majority.
Table 7: Successful Course Completion and Retention by Type of Enrollment
High School-Based PE / On Campus / Majority HS Students / Off Campus / In High Schools / Exclusive of HS PE / Under 14* / 14 Plus / All StudentsSuccessful* / 99.6% / 63.3% / 77.0% / 72.5% / 72.7% / 67.8% / 79.3% / 67.4% / 70.0%
Retention** / 100.0% / 86.2% / 91.7% / 89.9% / 91.0% / 88.2% / 92.3% / 88.1%
* Percent successful equals the number of enrollments where the grade equals was A, B, C or Credit divided by all attempted enrollments. Attempted enrollments include, in addition to the above, all those in which a grade of D, F, Incomplete, No Credit or Withdrawal was recorded.
**Percent retained equals the number of all enrollments except Withdrawals divided by all attempted enrollments.
Table 8 shows successful course completion by college, and again the rates for concurrent students are roughly comparable to that for all students. They are noticeably lower only at City, East, Trade-Tech and West where enrollments in special PE and Administration of Justice programs would particularly increase the overall figures.
Table 8: Successful Course Completion by College:
High School Students Compared to all Students
Concurrent* / 63.1% / 56.1% / 69.4% / 67.9% / 78.7% / 61.2% / 60.1% / 72.7% / 61.4% / 56.0% / 67.8%
All Students** / 71.0% / 72.8% / 69.1% / 68.6% / 68.5% / 61.4% / 72.4% / 68.0% / 72.2% / 42.0% / 70.0%
* High school-based PE classes excluded.
**2000-01 figures from System Performance on Partnership for Excellence Goals: District and College Baseline Data for 1998-99, 1999-00, and 2000-01.
1
Los Angeles Community Colleges / Office of Institutional Research and Information, August 7, 2002, Page[1] All counts for concurrent high school students are “ever enrolled within the term” defined as enrolled in at least one class past the no-penalty drop date. Total District credit enrollment by this definition was 143,795 in Fall 2001 as compared to a Census headcount of 119,433. Concurrent high school students were thus 12% of all those ever enrolled
[2] Though the high school-based P.E. classes have never been more than 3% of all District FTES (Full-Time Equivalent Students), the colleges are encouraged to use their resources for other types of high school partnerships for academic studies. Their high school-based P.E. programs are now limited to no more that 5% of total college FTES and only if justified by evidence of contribution to the college recruitment effort.
[3]For simplicity we have referred to all concurrent students as high school students though it is clear from the age distributions that a number are actually concurrently enrolled in middle school rather than high school.