Making Access to College a High Priority
The Seattle Times Company Editorials & Opinion
Wednesday, March 01, 2000
by Jeanne Kohl-Welles Special to The Times
I was pleased to read The Seattle Times' editorial "Student outreach vital after passage of I-200" (Feb. 2) and completely agree with its sentiment. It has been just over a year since voters approved Initiative 200, which effectively eliminated affirmative action in public employment, education and contracting. Since then, I've been interested in finding ways to increase diversity in higher education within the confines of the new law. While numbers can't tell the whole story of what's happened since I-200's approval, they are a place to start. Minority college enrollment rates are down.
Last fall, University of Washington enrollments of African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans were down 31.6 percent compared with the 1998-99 school year. Most of our other four-year schools have similar reductions. It's an alarming trend. One option to expand college access that is receiving a closer look is increasing offerings of Advanced Placement (AP) classes and other programs leading to college credit, such as the Running Start program, in high schools. Each AP course is associated with an exam that, if passed, can provide students with college credit even before entering college. College admissions officers view AP classes and test scores on student transcripts as indicators of academic excellence. Obviously, then, such students can have an advantage over others in college admissions decisions.
Illustrating the importance of AP credits, the American Civil Liberties Union recently filed a lawsuit in California charging that ethnic minority and disadvantaged students whose high schools offer few or no AP courses are at a disadvantage in competing for university admissions with students who have greater access to AP offerings. Interestingly, there's a lower percentage of schools in Washington (61 percent) offering AP classes than in California (82 percent). The average for all U.S. high schools is 60 percent. As such, there is growing concern about inadequate availability of AP classes and other college-credit academic programs in this state, especially for minority, low-income and rural students.
Last year, a group of African-American parents met with Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Joseph Olchefske to discuss concerns about black student achievement and the need for more information to be provided about the district's accelerated programs. White students dominate the AP program, despite the school district's 60 percent minority population. This is true even at schools with large minority enrollment such as Garfield High School, where 552 AP exams were taken in the 1998-99 school year, but by mostly white students. While there's clearly more to do, progress is being made in Seattle. In the past six years, the number of AP tests taken has increased from 250 to 1,100. However, additional steps need to be taken to increase minority participation.
Notification of available programs is important to ensure greater participation. This session, I introduced Senate Bill 6559, which would require schools to notify students and parents of college-credit programs offered at the school, as well as of ones offered by other public or private entities. The bill passed the Senate unanimously last month. Bellevue School District is doing an excellent job informing parents and students about the district's advanced courses. Each year, the district publishes a course catalog for its six high schools that includes information about its AP program. It's a useful way to give information to all students and parents. The state also could expand participation rates by increasing its help in paying low-income students' AP exam costs, which run $76 per test. This is being done now on a limited basis using federal funds. We also could train more teachers to teach AP courses.
A more dramatic change would be to permit a weighted GPA and class rank. If an AP class credit were worth more, some students would be more likely to take on challenging courses. Our public colleges and universities have responded to I-200 by increasing outreach efforts. For example, the University of Washington is aggressively approaching the problem of reduced minority enrollment by doing such things as expanding the Early Scholars Outreach program, which provides academic support for middle-school students, conducting more direct-mail recruiting, placing college admissions counselors in targeted high schools, and expanding high-school mentor programs. We'll see how their efforts pay off in the coming years.
In addition, the new Promise Scholarships, proposed by Gov. Gary Locke and funded by the Legislature, provide limited college scholarships for high-school students in the top 10 percent of their high-school class. They are helping low- and middle-income students achieve their college dreams. Finally, Washington is one of 21 states benefiting from a federal GEAR UP grant. These funds go toward improving post-secondary participation for students who have traditionally not pursued the advantages of higher education. Intensive, early intervention services are provided to 1,200 low-income, disadvantaged youth, seventh through 12th grade, including academic support, campus visits, application assistance and scholarships. Special workshops for professional development are also part of the program.
It's an exciting and ambitious plan that represents a true partnership between local schools, higher education institutions, and community-based organizations. A reduction in minority college enrollment in Washington should be alarming to everyone. More and more, a college degree is the ticket to the middle class and beyond. We simply must do all we can within the confines of the law to ensure that the playing field is level for everyone and that nobody is left on the sidelines because of inadequate access to higher education. It's time to find some new solutions.
State Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-36th District, is chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee and also serves on the Senate Education, Human Services & Corrections, and Ways & Means Committees.