Santa Rosa City Schools graduation requirements causing students to give up early, supports are minimal

In 2018, Santa Rosa City Schools officials were facing a serious equity problem: Not enough students of color were graduating with the classes they needed to attend a four-year university.

The district came up with a plan. Every student in the district would be funneled into college prep classes and be required to pass them to graduate.

Now, five years later, the cure has become worse than the disease, teachers and counselors say.

Graduation rates at nearly every high school in the district have declined, while thousands of students of color, English learners and students with disabilities are being left behind.

It’s becoming an emergency, counselors say, with too many kids losing out on the chance to get a diploma before they are even halfway through high school. They say it's also causing a ripple effect on school culture.

“We have fewer students now going straight to a four-year college than we did before,” said Kris Bertsch, a counselor at Santa Rosa High School. “The only difference is that our graduation rate has plummeted. And our school safety and kid engagement has plummeted.”

National education leaders with the Institution of Education Sciences estimate that nearly half of the students in every grade are at least a year behind in one subject or more for the second year in a row and attribute the decline to the learning loss during the COVID years.

Santa Rosa’s teachers say they routinely see students entering their ninth-grade year already behind and lacking the fundamentals they need to succeed in college prep courses.

And when those students are thrown into more rigorous coursework their freshman year, they struggle and fall even further behind, partly because most Santa Rosa City Schools campuses lack enough tutoring and support services to keep them afloat.

The problem extends beyond the requirements themselves.

Once students fail a class, the district’s rigid school-day structure doesn’t allow for them to retake more than one class at a time. With only six class periods in the day, a repeated course often fills the space otherwise reserved for electives, where students can explore their interests.

Students now have 20 less credits for electives over their four years, a 28% drop, according to district data.

Areli Garcia, a senior at Santa Rosa High, has always been interested in photography, especially after joining the yearbook club. But because she’s had to retake the third and final math course required for graduation, she had no room in her schedule to pursue that passion.

“I wanted to take photography because it’s something that I like, and I see myself doing in the future,” Garcia said. “Having to retake that class is stopping me from actually doing what I want to do and might even be doing after high school’s over.”

Many students are backed into a corner when they fail even a single course, with no choice but to retake the core curriculum courses. The alternative is not graduating, something Garcia fears because the advanced algebra concepts in the third-year math course are still hard for her to grasp the second time around.

This experience is common, teachers and counselors say. They’re urging the district to see that the one-size-fits-all model, known as the A-G policy, is being used inappropriately.

“There's a difference between allowing access for A-G and forcing everybody to be A-G,” said Melissa Baker, a counselor at Montgomery High School.

The policy is formally known as “A-G for All,” which outlines the categories of classes that a high school student should take to be equipped for the rigor of college courses. The required high school courses are separated by the letters A through G; A is the history requirement, B is English, C is mathematics and so on.

Students were not taking advantage of these course options in the Santa Rosa district, Superintendent Anna Trunnell said, so when they reached their senior year, many were faced with the realization that they didn’t have the courses they needed to apply to college.

That’s when the district decided to align graduation requirements with the A-G college eligibility requirements in 2018.

On paper, every high school student in the district should be graduating with the opportunity to apply to an in-state university. The problem is, too many students are not passing.

Culture of hopelessness

This academic year, less than a quarter of the district’s seniors were on track to graduate meeting A-G requirements, which teachers and counselors think is creating a culture of hopelessness among struggling students.

With rising school violence, and an increase in gang activity, teachers question if the unnecessarily high requirements is one of the root causes contributing to student disengagement — causing some to spiral into trouble.

The A-G policy lines up available high school courses with the admission requirements in the University of California and California State University systems.

The standards require high school seniors to complete three years of math, four years of English, three years of social studies, two years of a world language, two years of science and one year of visual and performing arts in order to apply to in-state universities.

Students must pass each course with a C or higher to be UC or CSU eligible, but only need to pass the courses with a D or higher to receive a diploma.

The university system requires a certain level of rigor in each A-G course; students in History courses must be assigned a 10-page research paper; science students must participate in a lab; students in math classes must pass intermediate and advanced algebra, geometry, trigonometry and statistics.

When the district moved to A-G alignment, most of the introductory and remedial classes were whittled away. Now, students across the five high schools are funneled directly into college preparatory classes their freshman year, regardless of whether they are learning at that level.

Out of nearly 400 students who would have had a pre-algebra course before the alignment but were funneled into a general algebra course, after the alignment, only 100 passed with a C or higher, according to January 2020 data provided by the Santa Rosa Teachers Association. The rest received a D or F.

The A-G requirement does not extend to students who have Individual Education Plans to accommodate learning disabilities.

“We get kids coming into high school that have failed every single class in seventh and eighth grade. Now you're going to plop them in a ninth grade class, and it's college prep?” said Bertsch, the Santa Rosa High counselor.

Bertsch is the senior most counselor in the district, and has opposed the A-G alignment since the conversation began. She says much of the problem is the lack of intervention tools for students who are struggling to keep up.

Trunnell was not yet the superintendent during the conversation on alignment, nor did she vote on the action in spring of 2018. She has continued with the implementation set forth by her predecessor, Diann Kitamura, saying she believes the alignment will help students have more opportunity for success after high school.

“Our graduation requirements set that base and foundation as an expectation for all students that they would at least have the ability to have choice, and options, even if they decided later that they didn't want to go on to college,” Trunnell added.

Kitamura now works as the Sonoma County Office of Education’s Deputy Superintendent in the Equitable Education Services Department, which advises districts on how they can implement A-G.

“We are bound by the fact that students should have access to the Common Core standards,” she said, referring to the general K-12 standards accepted by nearly 40 states across the U.S. “That doesn't negate the fact that you don't have supports and preparation for the teaching and classified staff in order to serve students who may be behind.”

Educators note little resources, poor implementation of policy

Counselors say the alignment was brought on too hastily.

“Once you've raised a bar, that's fine that you have set a certain expectation, but if you're going to change that bar, you need to add supports, scaffolding or interventions so that these kids can be successful, and I think that didn't happen,” said Baker, another Santa Rosa High counselor.

The district lacks support services: Tutoring is hard to access; Counselors are responsible for hundreds of students; And teachers find it nearly impossible to catch up students who are behind, while also meeting the A-G standards.

Montgomery High School math teacher Jim LaFrance says it’s especially hard for students in math classes, many of whom are funneled into “Math 1” — pre-algebra — without having a grasp on the fundamental learning blocks for the subject.

“So we (teachers) were like, ‘You’re going to take all these kids, most of whom failed seventh and eighth grade math, and you’re going to put them in college prep math classes,’” he said. “Are we supposed to be taking them back to junior high curriculum or are we supposed to keep teaching them the one curriculum that they need?”

In a freshman’s “Math 1” course, students learn linear algebra, multistep equations and the fundamentals of geometry. In “Math 2” quadratic formulas come into the curriculum, and students learn exponents and complex geometry.

For students who didn’t get a grasp on pre-algebra in middle school, it’s an uphill climb to pass the Math 1 course, LaFrance said, and some students spend more than one year attempting to catch up on the curriculum.

Teachers are often asked to “differentiate,” in the introductory classes, LaFrance said, meaning they are told to create varying assignments based on a student’s learning level. But with the rigor involved in teaching high school college preparatory math classes, it’s often unsustainable.

For the students who get to their required “Math 3” course, which is scheduled to be taken in their junior year, the subject covers complex algebra, including statistics, trigonometry, radical functions, and graphing sinusoidal equations.

Anthony Flores, a senior at Santa Rosa High, said he’s always struggled with math, and finds the final “Math 3” course to be the most daunting.

“Right now, I am actually kind of worried because I’m not doing the best in math,” he said. “And in every subject I am basically an ‘A’ student and it worries me that I won’t be able to graduate because I can’t do ‘Math 3.’”

The pressure of passing the advanced algebra course despite his efforts, is disheartening, he said.

“When I study so hard for exams and then I get a really low score, it really brings my morale down,” Flores said. “I keep trying but it keeps coming back with the same scores.”

“I get it, having to take Math 1, Math 2 … but Math 3 should be an optional thing, where each student should be able to make their own decision if they want to go to college,” said Garcia, another Santa Rosa High School senior. “Ever since I've been in high school, it's something that I’ve heard: ‘You have to pass that class, you’re not graduating and if you don’t graduate, all those classes you took are basically worth nothing.”

Both students are about to head into finals week, and Garcia is worried she might not pass the exam.

Plus, there’s minimal options for tutoring.

At Montgomery High School, tutoring is nonexistent. There used to be an after-school homework club, a place where kids could get help in English and math three days a week.

LaFrance said the district has asked teachers to supplement the lack of after school tutoring.

“What we're being told is they want to pay us to take on classes before school and after school,” he said. “What's happening in our site, and I'm guessing it's happening elsewhere, is teachers are tapped out, and they're like, ‘You're only paying me an hourly wage to come in and do work after work, and I'm barely keeping up with my work as it is.’”

Santa Rosa High has more options for tutoring than most, Bertsch said, pointing to four-day-a-week after school tutoring and peer tutoring options for students.

“We don't even have that after school anymore because our teachers are so burned out that they can't even add anything extra on their plate,” said Baker. “Plus with so many students who might have a job to help their family financially, or watch their younger siblings, it’s impossible.”

The problem is that students who have fallen behind in more than one class often won’t take advantage of these courses, she said, because they won’t provide credit recovery for the classes students have failed already.

By sophomore year, if a student has failed Math 1 for three semesters and science or English courses for the same amount of time, they’re most likely not going to graduate, because there isn’t enough time in their schedule to retake those classes.

Plus, there aren’t credit recovery options for those sophomores until they’re seniors and can get into Ridgway, the district’s continuation school. Only the students who go to Piner High School have the support of an in-house credit recovery program, called GRACE, which is available to students in all grade levels who’ve fallen behind.

Solutions, or lack thereof

Educators are calling for alternate pathways and major changes to the requirements, and for the district to act quickly.

On Dec. 5, the Santa Rosa Teachers Association publicly released a resolution for the policy, recognizing its importance while calling for a number of changes.

The teachers asked for academic supports at the elementary, middle and high school levels, specifically for reading, math and English language learners, as well as an increase in Career Technical Education and art opportunities.

For struggling students, the association called for more alternative education, including bridge programs and small so-called “necessary schools” that serve smaller populations of students with more academic support, as well as more opportunities for credit recovery. Each program would offer support for students who fall behind in hopes of getting them up to speed before they enter high school.

They also called for the elimination of a “one-size-fits-all” approach to education by adding back in non-college preparatory classes at the junior and senior level as well as reinstating robust elective classes.

Aside from the Santa Rosa Teachers Association resolution, LaFrance suggested a “permanent off ramp” for non-college-bound students to be able to earn their high school diplomas without the additional A-G required courses.

He added that making sure students and parents know about college requirements, and have the opportunity to go to college if they wish, is critical.

“We did not want kids to be funneled off track against their will,” LaFrance said. “We want them to have the opportunity to go to college if the opportunity arises.”

He also said it’s important that kids at every school have an option to take Career Technical Education classes, or other engaging classes, such as culinary, wood shop or 3D design.

Many believe the intention of A-G was good, but its implementation is hurting the students it was intended to help, said Santa Rosa High History Teacher John Cortopassi.

“They thought they were going to motivate,” Cortopassi said of the former school board. “And with the lack of supports, and the school board being unwilling to honestly look at the data and the issue and staying 100% A-G all the way, it's caused despair for a large number of students.”

Santa Rosa City School board officials have called for a special board meeting on Dec. 20, to discuss student progress meeting A-G requirements this academic year. They may consider offering waivers for certain students to graduate without meeting A-G requirements.

The district has plans to apply these waivers not only to this year’s graduating class, but also the class of 2025. If the waivers are approved, it’ll be the fourth and fifth year in a row the district offers an alternative option to their alignment.

The Santa Rosa Teacher’s Association will be holding an online forum to talk about the graduation requirements in order to gear up for the district meeting.

“What they keep doing is reactionary,” LaFrance said. “All of a sudden, they looked at the graduation rate and they realized, ‘Oh my gosh, we need to do something different’ and now it's becoming an emergency.”

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect that Melissa Baker is a counselor at Montgomery High and the 10-page paper is due in History.

Report For America corps member Adriana Gutierrez covers education and child welfare issues for The Press Democrat. Reach her at Adriana.Gutierrez@pressdemocrat.com.

You can reach Staff Writer Alana Minkler at 707-526-8531 or alana.minkler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @alana_minkler.