Many Hub graduates struggle in college

Half of Boston public school graduates who studied math when they arrived at 11 local colleges in fall 2005 were required to take a remedial class, which a quarter of them failed, according to newly released data.

The report by the Boston Higher Education Partnership provides the most detailed data in nearly two decades about the performance of Boston public school graduates in college and indicates that many of them are barely staying afloat.

The study, which tracked 465 graduates, is sparking concern that the city's public schools are failing to prepare students to earn college degrees and to function in the workforce.

"We realize that just getting them out our door and saying they are graduated is not enough," said Chris Coxon, the school system's deputy superintendent for teaching and learning. "The issue is, that's great, but how are they doing once they get to college?"

The study examined all Boston public school students who graduated in 2003, 2004, or 2005 and entered the 11 colleges as full-time freshmen in the fall of 2005.

Thirty percent who studied English in the first semester were required to take a remedial class, and nearly 10 percent of those failed, the study showed.

Boston public school officials have trumpeted the 71 percent of their graduates who go on to two- or four-year colleges, a rate that tops national averages. But there is no data available on how many of Boston's high school graduates earn college degrees.

The new report, a precursor to more comprehensive studies, begins to fill in the picture. A third of the Boston public school graduates in the study who attended community colleges had left school by the end of their first year.

Those who attended community college earned credits for only three courses on average, compared with the eight courses they would need to have a full year's worth of credit toward a two-year associate's degree.

Remedial courses don't count toward a degree. Students are assigned to the make-up classes if they do not perform at college level in a particular subject on a placement test.

Of the Boston public school graduates who went to four-year colleges, 16 percent had left by the end of their first year.

The Boston Higher Education Partnership, which promotes higher student achievement, is a consortium of the Boston public schools and area colleges, including the 11 in the study. The schools that participated in the study were Bunker Hill, MassBay, and Roxbury community colleges, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, Suffolk University, and six smaller colleges. About half of the students in the sample went to community college, and half to a four-year school.

The community college students were far more likely to struggle than those in four-year schools. Sixty-eight percent of them had to take at least one remedial course, while a quarter of those at four-year schools did. Nationally, 42 percent of community college students enroll in a developmental course, and 20 percent of four-year students do.

A Globe review in 2005 found that 37 percent of incoming freshmen from Massachusetts public high schools had to take at least one remedial class at the state's public colleges between 2002 and 2004.

The more remedial courses students have to take in college, the less likely they are to earn a degree, according to research from the US Department of Education. Because the students need more time to finish school, they are more likely to get frustrated and give up, educators say.

Educators said yesterday that the study is proof of a chasm between high school graduation requirements and the skills and knowledge needed for college.

"If you can pass all your courses and MCAS, and you fail remedial math at a community college, something is amiss there," said Margaret A. McKenna, president of Lesley University and chairwoman of the Boston Higher Education Partnership.

Far fewer students from Boston's exam schools were required to take remedial classes. Fourteen percent of the exam school graduates in the study who took math were placed in a remedial class, and 9 percent of exam school graduates taking English were placed in a remedial class.

Officials said yesterday they are working on solutions.

The Boston public school system has a new program that will provide every high school with information on how its graduates fare in college, Coxon said. The school district hopes to find out what type of courses predict students' success, he said.

He also said the school system is examining ways to get more students into honors and Advanced Placement classes, to beef up math education, and to zero in on study skills. In focus groups conducted as part of the report, many students said they graduated from high school without acquiring basic academic skills like note-taking and time management.

Patricia F. Plummer, chancellor of the state Board of Higher Education, pointed out that the state is considering setting higher guidelines for graduation. Actual graduation requirements are set at the local level, and she said the state should take over that responsibility, which she believed would require a change in law.

She also argued that the state should pay for all 11th-graders to take a community college placement test, so they can get an early indication of where they stand.

She added that the community colleges have already been looking for ways to fix shortcomings the report found on their campuses, such as poor advising and confusion about degree requirements and transferring.

The study said that even well-prepared Boston public school graduates face significant hurdles in college, since most are from low-income families. Many are working so many hours to pay for school that it interferes with schoolwork. Fewer than a quarter of students in the study at four-year colleges lived on campus, which means they did not have the social and academic benefits of the traditional college experience.

Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri@globe.com.