Many high school seniors are now focusing on what they will do once they graduate – or how they don’t at all know what is to come.

But nowadays , said Christina Sanchez, a school and college counselor at in the San Fernando Valley.

Sanchez, who has worked as a counselor for more than two decades, has put in the time in schools to know what students think and feel about their possible future career paths. 

She said career and technical education is amongst today’s high school seniors, and, as far as she can tell, even are feeling the shift. 

But from her perch at Triumph Charter High, a , Title I school, Sanchez also said students should be mindful of the path they choose, whether it be college or the workforce. 

“If they are going to college just because somebody told them it’s best, that usually doesn’t work out,” she said. “But I also think they should consider the benefits of a college education.” 

Read on as Sanchez weighs in on why the CTE is ascendent, what colleges are doing to adjust, and whether this shift is good for students. 

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

University enrollment has declined over the past decade, and vocational programs are rising in that same timeframe. Have you noticed this trend and what do you attribute this to? 

We still have students going to college, but yes it is definitely a declining number. 

I would say there’s more interest in a quick payout. They see that more in trades. So, students are gravitating toward trade school where they can focus on a career and get out sooner. They feel they can make money quicker, and just as much, if not more, as with a college education. 

They’re equating education with money more, especially since the pandemic. Yes, there are obvious connections between those. But, it’s not the only factor, and it really depends what field you go into. 

What are universities doing to avoid a decline in enrollment?

There are still schools like UCLA and UC Berkeley who are very selective. UCLA is not begging anybody to apply.

I’ve definitely seen private colleges sending marketing emails more to get students to apply, and even waiving application fees. Sometimes they say ‘you don’t even need to do the extra work, just send us a transcript.’ Public universities are extending deadlines often as well. 

Community colleges are also increasing and promoting their trade programs more than ever. That’s becoming a focus for them because they’re trying to compete. 

Are there more downsides to a college degree now than in years past, and are students more pessimistic about going to college?

There’s definitely a resistance to taking out student loans. It doesn’t help that parents will often highlight cautionary tales, like a niece or nephew who went to college and is now working retail. 

I haven’t noticed any increases in unemployment rates or underemployment rates. Those are specific instances, not really a trend. When we do hear back from our alumni who went to college, they are almost always working on something related to their degree. I rarely have a student come back and say they haven’t been able to get a job. 

Why are trade careers becoming more interesting to students? 

There are always trending careers, but they ebb and flow. Today, social media has more of an impact on what careers students see. Sometimes I talk to students and ask, ‘How did you even know about that?’ and they say they saw it on social media. 

People highlight their career paths, and students see the best of it. They see what the person chooses to show. Just like it is with people’s private lives, you may not see the bad days or the bad sides of it. They’re not highlighting the negatives. I definitely see that influencing students when it comes to career paths, especially in the last five years. 

What advice would you give to a student choosing between a trade school and a university in this current job climate? 

I think everybody should do what’s right for them. If they are going to college just because somebody told them it’s best, that usually doesn’t work out. But I also think they should consider the benefits of a college education, other than what type of job you can get. I do find that there are benefits beyond that. 

Some are not seeing that job opportunities are wider with a college degree. If you are trained in one industry and you don’t enjoy it, you don’t have as much flexibility as someone with a college degree. You’re 17 years old, how do you know you want to be an electrician? 

When they make the decision, they need to be open to everything so that they know for sure it is the right one for them and not just one they made because they didn’t work to explore their options. 

I think what needs to be done more in schools is career exposure. Students are mostly making decisions based on what they see on the internet, what they read, and random examples. They’re not really experiencing the world of work because we have such an academic focus in our schools. Many schools promote college prep, and it almost seems like career things are considered ‘anti-college.’ 

That might be doing students a disservice to students who don’t get to see all these careers and what they look like. So I do think schools should do more with career guidance. I’m in support of career education, apprenticeships, and dual enrollment, but it should be done for careers you get with a college degree, not just trade school careers. It does seem like when schools do have career programs, they tend to be in the trades. It should be both. 

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COLUMBIA — Fewer high schoolers enrolled in or applied for college this fall, even though the graduation rate for the Class of 2024 was slightly better than last year, according to data released Tuesday.

Overall, that grade public schools contained few surprises, teachers’ advocates said.

That’s not good news, as schools’ ratings still reflect low test scores and high absence rates statewide.

“There’s very little movement at all,” said Sherry East, president of the South Carolina Education Association. “I’m not seeing much ‘Oh, wow,’ or ‘Oh, yikes,’ either.”

The number of schools at the highest and lowest ends of the spectrum decreased.

This year, 230 schools — 18% — were considered excellent, down from 278, or 22.5%, last year.

At the same time, 47 schools — just 4% — were rated unsatisfactory, the lowest of five rankings. That’s down from 60 last year, according to the data jointly released by the state Department of Education and the independent Education Oversight Committee.

It is good news that fewer schools fell in the bottom tier, said Patrick Kelly with the Palmetto State Teachers Association.

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“I tend to look more toward underachieving schools,” Kelly said. “I don’t want any student in South Carolina to attend a school that’s underachieving.”

Education officials pointed to Pinecrest Elementary School in Greenwood, where they held a news conference releasing the report cards, as an example of a school doing well despite difficult circumstances.

Pinecrest Elementary, where 87% of students live in poverty, scored an “excellent” rating overall, along with top scores in academic performance and student progress.

“While the road ahead is challenging, we remain optimistic as the performance of schools like Pinecrest Elementary demonstrate that academic improvement is achievable,” April Allen, chair of the Education Oversight Committee, said at the school.

College and career readiness

The percentage of students who graduated on time (four years after entering ninth grade) improved slightly to 85% — 1.6 percentage points better than last year. Still, less than a third of all high school seniors were considered ready for both the workforce and college, according to the data.

“We want to ensure that our students are adequately prepared for life after graduation,” Allen said.

In South Carolina, all 11th graders take a career-readiness assessment of skills commonly needed for jobs. It tests four areas: Math, reading, understanding data (such as correctly interpreting graphics), and so-called “soft skills,” which is basically knowing how to act professionally, be dependable and work well with others.

Students receive scores of 1 to 5. The higher the score, the more jobs and career fields they’re ready to pursue.

But that score alone may not mean much, Kelly said, since “some students go through the motions” when it comes to that test.

Nearly 70% of students in the Class of 2024 were considered ready for a career.

That means they received at least a 3 on the career-readiness assessment, earned a technical education certificate, completed a , or scored well enough on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (commonly known as the ASVAB) to qualify to enlist in the military.

That was up from 61% last year.

At the same time, the percentage of students enrolling in and applying for college decreased from last year. Nearly 55% of students who graduated in the spring started this semester in a two- or four-year college, compared with 63% of last year’s graduates attending college in fall 2023.

And 61% applied for college, compared to 64% of the Class of 2023. About 4,530 fewer students completed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which determines how much state and federal aid a student’s eligible to receive.

Statewide, the percentage of graduates considered ready for college was 32.5%, essentially unchanged from last year. That reflects students’ scores on the ACT or SAT college entrance exam, whether they earned college credit through a dual-enrollment course, or scored high enough on end-of-course Advanced Placement tests to earn college credit.

The numbers suggest students can graduate high school without actually being prepared for the workforce or college, East said.

“We made sure our graduation rates are where they need to be, even if we’re just passing (students) along,” she said.

Students who fail tests or entire classes are more often offered alternatives, which are sometimes easier than the original class. That enables them to graduate, boosting schools’ graduation rates, without preparing students for any sort of career, East and Kelly said.

Offering second chances for struggling students “is not a bad thing,” Kelly said.

“But there are too many instances where the second chance is not as aligned with the rigor or expectations of the first chance,” he said.

Chronic absences

The rate of students who miss 10% of the school year — 18 days or more, when considering the state’s required 180 days of instruction — remains a concern for education leaders, Allen said.

Nearly 23% of students were considered chronically absent last school year, according to the data.

The more often students miss class, the less likely they are to earn scores on end-of-year standardized tests showing they’re reading for the next grade, the oversight committee heard Monday.

“It makes sense: If students aren’t in school, it is unlikely that they are going to stay on track for success,” Allen said.

Test scores

Report cards for elementary and middle schools are based on performance on end-of-year standardized tests. About 54% of third- through eighth-grade students statewide showed they could read on grade level, while 43% could meet math expectations for their grade.

High school report cards factored in students’ end-of-course tests in English 2 (usually taken by sophomores) and Algebra I (often taken by freshman). Two-thirds of students passed the English test, while less than half of algebra students scored at least a 70 (a C).

“Students are struggling in math, and as a state, we want to provide schools, teachers and students the tools and resources they need to improve,” Allen said in a statement.

State Superintendent Ellen Weaver credited the Palmetto Literacy Project with improving reading scores. Since 2019, the state budget has provided the agency up to $14 million annually to hire reading specialists, train teachers and provide more resources to schools with particularly low scores.

Officials are hoping for a similar outcome from the new Palmetto Math Project, which was funded with $10 million in this year’s state budget to hire math tutors, buy textbooks, and improve training for teachers at the lowest-scoring schools.

“Improving math proficiency must also be an urgent, parallel priority to ensure that all students are fully prepared for future success,” Weaver said in a news release. “The department’s newly launched Palmetto Math Project is positioned to do just that.”

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The Class of 2024 had a college experience like no other, starting its first year during peak pandemic and graduating amid protests of the war in Gaza. Many of its graduates will be joining a working world that holds their future in its hands and that was transformed by technological advancements and changing attitudes about work while they were in school. What can they expect from the world of work today?

Many teenagers who’ve spent time in California’s juvenile detention facilities get high school diplomas with grade-school reading skills.

During a five-year span beginning in 2018, 85% of these students who graduated from high school and took a 12th-grade reading assessment did not pass it, according to data from the Division of Juvenile Justice, the agency operating state youth facilities.

What’s more, over a fifth of all students tested at lower grade levels, signaling how far behind these students are. And not a single student during those five years was below eighth grade, yet nearly a third of all assessments were for grades K-6, data show.

“You have kids getting their high school diplomas who aren’t able to even read and write, and that to me is a tragedy,” said Crystal Anthony, co-founder of , which helps youth in Orange County as they leave facilities.

The average age of DJJ youth is 19, but they can range from 14 to 25. And while the majority are boys and young men, these numbers also include girls and young women.

Being awarded a high school diploma while lacking grade-level reading skills is not a new phenomenon in California’s juvenile justice system. Los Angeles County was  in 2010. This reading lag exists in both state and county youth facilities, officials confirmed. Experts indicate the issue is multifaceted, including an online credit recovery system that has drawn criticism for allowing students to earn fewer than 160 credits to graduate, incomplete assessment data, and prisonlike facilities that house youths for varying periods.

Anthony and five others interviewed statewide for this story expressed frustration with the disconnect between graduation and low reading skills. The lament was repeated throughout the system from the juvenile justice program’s new director to researchers, social workers and youth educators.

Cycle of drugs and arrests

For years, Adam Solorzano was caught in a cycle of drugs and arrest. Growing up in agricultural Westmorland, in Southern California’s Imperial County, he stopped attending school regularly in middle school and was addicted to drugs by 15. He was in and out of county jails on drug charges until about age 21.

Eventually, following a friend’s suggestion, he got his high school diploma at a local adult school. “I went from being a high school dropout and feeling like I wasn’t going to amount to anything, and then getting my high school diploma at 22 — but nothing changed,” said Solorzano. Like a crucial fact: He read at a sixth grade level, and at no point during his time cycling through the juvenile justice system, public schools, or the adult school were his low literacy skills addressed.

It all changed when he enrolled in Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District. Even enrolling was a hurdle: He didn’t read well enough to complete the online forms. Months later, he finally worked up the courage to ask for help. “She hit a couple of buttons, and I was a student,” he said.

It was only then, at age 25, that he was advised to enroll in remedial English, writing, and math — courses that he progressed through so quickly that he was soon offered a job tutoring other beginning students.

Some family members questioned his academic pursuits, but he pushed forward, eventually connecting with , an organization that supports students navigating higher education post-incarceration.

Today, Solorzano is 30 and enrolled in the journalism graduate program at the University of California Berkeley, where he earned his undergraduate degree in comparative literature. “It’s been a long journey,” said Solorzano, referring to his academic experience as “crazy” for taking him to UC Berkeley, a college he had never heard of.

‘Shame on us…’

His story is not uncommon, according to experts.

Katherine Lucero, director of the , the new state office leading the juvenile justice system, knows the challenges. “One of the things we want to know from each facility is: If it’s discovered a youth can’t read, are there resources to help them read?” she said. “It’s horrible that a young person has to be incarcerated for any amount of time — but if it happens that a judge commits a youth for multiple years, shame on us if we haven’t done everything we can to have that youth leave with as much education as they could possibly desire.”

Students at DJJ facilities who have not completed high school read on average at a sixth-grade level, according to Lucero, quoting data reported to her by the state.

Kim Rigg, superintendent of education for the Division of Juvenile Justice schools, acknowledged that despite an average minimum stay of two years, youth rarely improve to their grade level. “One to three grade year improvement is typical,” Rigg wrote in an email.

“The reality is that we do get a lot of troubled youth that were not in the best situation socially, and it impacted them academically,” she said. “DJJ youth are sensitive to incentives, and generally not motivated to score well on standardized tests for which there is no reward.”

Another problem is the sketchy test score data. Education data for incarcerated students is generally difficult to access, in part due to privacy concerns, incomplete data entry and a lack of assessments created for the needs of incarcerated students.

The focus on the reading education of incarcerated youth comes at a critical time for California, which in July is shifting the operation of youth facilities from the state to the counties. Youths in state facilities will be assigned to one of  inside existing juvenile facilities across the state’s 56 counties.

While officials say education is a priority, details are not outlined in the state law mandating the change or in the plans for the switch. In the end, each county office of education will decide how the curriculum for youths will meet the state’s education requirements.

“As the Office of Youth and Community Restoration guides the state’s transition to county-led youth justice, improving educational outcomes for youth is a top priority,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. “When youth have access to educational opportunities, they are better prepared for a successful transition into adulthood. OYCR is optimistic about counties’ efforts to improve educational outcomes for youth who are court-involved, and will continue to share best practices, resources, and technical assistance in support of those goals.”

The transition of incarcerated youth education to the counties also comes at a time when parents and teachers nationwide and in California are demanding a focus for all students on improving low test scores by embracing phonics and “the science of reading.”

At DJJ, which has operated high schools inside four juvenile facilities, educators have relied on phonics assessments plus structured literacy programs, such as the . County curriculums vary, though Los Angeles County offers an example: It relies on two programs, , which focus on phonemic awareness, phonics, reading comprehension and decoding through systematic, explicit instruction and individualized practice.

Decades-old problem

In the juvenile justice system, warnings that youth lack reading skills date back decades.

 found that more than a third of youth in the justice system were reading below the fourth-grade level.  have shown that 85% of youth in the country’s justice system have difficulty reading and that about 40% of 10th grade students in the system read below a fourth-grade level.

“Considering that reading competence is a critical factor for academic success … providing intensive reading instruction to detained and incarcerated youth has the potential to improve a successful return to school after release and reduce the likelihood to re-offend,” wrote the authors of  that found race, age and learning disabilities play a significant role in incarcerated students’ reading skills.

 revealed that some Los Angeles County youths were granted diplomas despite being illiterate. A settlement resulted in the county  reading assessments and intervention programs, 

Currently, youth typically arrive with a fourth-grade reading level, according to Diana Velasquez, executive director for educational programs at the L.A. County Office of Education.

Students receive a reading assessment upon arrival and then every 90 days. Those testing below grade level are assigned a literacy specialist for daily one-to-one work.

Yet, some say the juvenile justice system’s credit recovery program, in part implemented due to the settlement, incentivized youth to avoid taking catch-up classes that may increase their reading skills because they are excited about the prospect of graduating faster. This process, signed into law in Assembly Bill 216 in 2016, allows certain youth — such as those who are incarcerated, in foster care, or newly immigrated — to graduate with fewer academic credits. The bill’s intent is to remove graduation barriers for youth with unstable access to education.

“I understand the intent … but those are the kids who have left this place without knowing how to read,” said Florence Avognon, an educator in L.A. County juvenile facilities.

Velasquez said her team works to ensure that students do not leave without knowing how to read, even if they graduate with fewer credits.

“There were some safeguards that needed to be placed at the advent of AB216 as students were being provided that opportunity for graduation,” said Velasquez. “And for us, that … became really looking at those test scores before saying we’re signing off on a diploma.”

An analysis of L.A. County’s reading assessment data shows that checking for reading proficiency did not occur countywide, however. Many students did not get the initial assessment or the follow-up within the required times, according to a  from the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools.

The data also uncovered unexplained patterns in students’ reading ability. Some students first tested at a second grade reading level and improved to 11th grade by the second test, or vice versa.

“That’s a massive difference, which tells you that the kid was traumatized as hell when they came in, or resistant and didn’t want to do it,” said Angela James, director of research at the center and lead author of the study.

The dramatic changes suggest they’re negatively impacted by learning in a prisonlike environment, she said. The cases where this happened weren’t the norm, but there were enough to move the data averages. “The fact of the matter is, the kids that are incarcerated are in a very traumatic circumstance,” said James. “Most of them have unmet educational needs before they arrive.”

Transforming juvenile justice

California incarcerated . While the rate of youth incarceration has declined in recent decades, the number of Black and Latino youth remains disproportionately high, accounting for roughly 90% of the population. Between 30% and 35% of youth in state facilities are “designated special education,” according to the DJJ. About 95% of all incarcerated youth are boys and young men.

In 2017,  that 74.2% of youth released during the 2012-13 fiscal year were re-arrested, over 50% were convicted for new offenses, and nearly 40% returned to state custody within three years of release from a DJJ facility.

Access to education has long been established as crucial to lowering recidivism rates — by 43%, according to a  that conducted a comprehensive analysis of studies on the subject released during a 31-year period starting in 1980.

“It will be our responsibility at the end of the day to say: Did we do a good job? And we can no longer blame DJJ for that recidivism rate,” said Lucero.

While the shift of responsibility for incarcerated youth from the state to the counties is meant to reform the justice system, some advocates say they are concerned it won’t address access to accurate education data or the need for increased focus on high-quality education. It’s a concern that Lucero, director of the state agency, says is being prioritized.

“That’s why it’s even more important for counties to care about this, because there’s not going to be any place really to hide and to pass the buck to and to say it’s somebody else’s job,” she said. “What I do know for sure is government-trained folks are going to be raising these kids, so we have to make this a priority.”

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