PFC Newsletter O A K
P A R K
H I G H
November 2011
S C H O O L www.oakparkusd.org/ophs
The Principal’s Message Our College-Going Culture As I write this, our teachers and counselors are busy writing letters of recommendation for our seniors’ college applications, students are checking out the websites of the colleges and universities they’re interested in attending next fall, and parents are looking at their budgets to figure out just how much a college degree costs these days. College application season is in full swing and senior deadlines are rapidly approaching. However, despite the urgency of the senior process, the preparations for attending college begin long before the senior year and involve much more than the tangible forms, personal, statements, and transcripts that are ultimately submitted. Each student must learn about how to explore and investigate their career and college options, and the earlier the better. Sending the message of high expectations needs to be clear and community-wide. Building and maintaining a college-going culture is a process that requires that we all convey the expectations that all students can prepare for the opportunity to attend and be successful in college. At Oak Park High School, the vast majority of our courses are either College Prep (CP) or Honors/Advanced Placement (AP). All of these courses are designed to not only meet OPHS graduation requirements, but also to satisfy the university undergraduate admission eligibility requirements. This means that our core academic and elective programs are designed to prepare students to be able to apply to 4-year universities.
The most familiar term that is used to describe this in California is “articulation” which means how high school students “satisfy the a-g requirements”. These are the courses students must take to be able to apply to University of California and California State Universities. Although most of our students do matriculate to a 4-year school, there are a significant number of students who meet the requirements to enter university, but choose to attend a community college with the intention of transferring to a 4-year school in their junior year. While this is very desirable option in many cases, and personally served me as I transferred from Santa Monica College to UCLA where I ultimately received my Masters Degree. I know that every year there are some OPHS students who with a little more knowledge, effort, and encouragement could begin their post secondary education at a university. There are students who just miss meeting the a-g by one or two courses. Often, it comes down to getting that second year of foreign language during high school. It’s still a university entrance requirement that will have to be taken at community college prior to transfer. Or, that third year of college prep math that again will ultimately have to be taken in community college, sometimes at the expense of a college elective. Sometimes, it’s just that they never visited the College and Career Center, which is open every continued on page 4