034-2000 LTC
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
CITY HALL 1700 CONVENTION CENTER DRIVE MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA 33139
http:\\ci.miami-beach,fJ,us
34-2000
L,T.C. No.
LETTER TO COMMISSION
February 28, 2000
TO: Mayor Neisen 0, Kasdin and
Members of the City Commission
FROM: Lawrence A. Levy ~/~
City Manager
SUBJECT: MIAMI-DADE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
Attached is a copy of an article from "The Miami Herald" dated February 24, 2000, entitled "College
readiness improves slightly," I thought this might be of interest to you due to current discussions
at our City Commission meetings,
LAL:~:Icd
Attachment
c:
Mayra Diaz Buttacavoli
Janet Gavarretc
Christina M, Cuervo
Matthew Schwartz
Ronnie Singer
Mary Greenwood
Robert Parcher
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F: \CMG R\$AI ,L \LTC -OO\COLl "EG E, RDY
College readiness ilnproves shgllt1y
flY SIEVE flflllSI)UEI
MHl J^C~ WIIEM___
sl>ollsqlll:l(alllrlald.cOIll "
TALLAHASSEE -- Flonda high
school studcnts we...~ slightly bettcr
;Hcpared for col1ege lasl 'year llwn Ih,c
year before, bullllany ~tlll n,cede,d J(;-
mrdial classes - espccwl1y III Mwnll-
Dade and Jlroward, a state IJeparl-
11...111 of Eduealioll repolt said
Wedllt'sday,
1'0111' oul of five hil~h school gradll-
ales who enlercd Miami-Dade Com-
l1Iunity College last fall we,re ~l<~t
ready for col1ege, bascll onlhelr 11I11U-
I1Inm s('ores on an ent ry-Ievel algebra,
reading and wriling exal1l known as
t he College Placement Test.
IZeadiness
for college
.
llllprovcs
. RfAOltlLSS, II10M 10
whites,
III Mi:lllli-l lade, '1,';,,\ percelll
of J9Y/l public high school
grads who emol1ed in stal~ uni-
versities or commullity col1ege
were ready for all their cours-
es,
lvlDCC reported thaI just 21.2
percent of the 3,(,21 in-slale
high school glad~ who enml1ed
in 19911-99 were considered
ready -- which explains why
"remedialil,n" is a powerful
buzzword in Ihe Legislature
Ihcse days, In Florida, a high
school diploma is the only re-
'luirenlent for admission 10
communit)' collegc acadcmic
plllgrams, Pcople ma)' enrol1 in
vocational alld lechllical pro-
grams wilhout high school di-
pllllnas,
l\losl MDCC freshmen come
(rom Miami-Dade I'lIblic
schools. School district offi-
cials said they need more time
to study Ihe report before mak-
illg any comment.
"We wOllld very nlllch like to
nanow the gap," ~aid MDCC
)'Illvosl ]cl'fre)' Lukcllhill. "Bill
we provide nil opell-door 01'- ,
I'ortunity for high school Stll-
dcnts who have been grndllaled
and as far as Ihey know hnve
been prepnred for college," On-
ly when they emoll and take.
the College I'Jncemenl Test do'
those studenls realize Ihey are'
not prepnrcd, he said,
Counly schools struggle wilh
the special problems of educal-
, ing I<ll'ge /lumbers o{ iUlInigrant
, children - whosr,/lIastery of
~l1hi'~ct~ is often CllJl)I'[OJl)iSl,d
! hy language barriel s -- alld a
high rale of transiellce, Luken-
bill ~aid, In Mia/lli-J lade, iI's of-
ten hnrd lo idcntify whcn the
l'rohlc/ll is Ihe qllality of in-
strllction ill school~ or ~impJy
100 llIuch dislocatioll in ~tu-
dcnl~' lives, Lllkenbill said,
Even 50, MDCC registered a
slighl gaill in pleparedlwss, I.u-
kenbill said, Of the 19'J1l high
school grad~ who ('n(('II'd
MIlCC, 21.2 perccllt requilcd
1m rcmedial classes, comparcd
lllis ch;lIl slloIVs the percenlilgcs of 1998 MiallliDilde Iligh school graduales at state universities
or COllllllllllily CiJl/cges who ille reildy for college'lave/lllalh, reading, writing and all areils:
______ ____I n____________!'':I.Ce~_("\J~':.I'~~(IL________ ~__
Malh
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IlE^DINESS 1011 COLLEGE
Scl100l
Acadf!lny fill' COIlIlI1. [ChlCiltioll
AIt(!rll;Jlivc ()lIIIC;lCh f'rogr-alll
Arllcliciln
Darbillil (;OIClllilll
Coral Gables
COlporalf! Acadf!IIIY :;olllh
COrpurilte AC;l1felllY Nortll
Dcsip,n,'I;, AICllil(~etIHe
G, Ilolillcs fJraddock
Ilialeall
lIialeilhMiilllli L;lkes
Ilclllleslead
MAS I Acadr!IIIY
Miallli Ileacll
Miami Carol Cily
Miilllli CClltr;iI
Miilllli Corall'ark
Miallli MilCAI II 11/1' Norlll
Miallli MilcArllll/l' SOllth
Miallli Idisoll
Miallli Jackson
Mi;lIl1i Killiiln
Miami Norland
Miilllli NOllllwpslel1l
Miami I'illillelto
Miilllli Senior
Miami Skill CCIJlcr
Miallli SOllllllidge
Miallli Sprillgs
Miallli SlInset
New World Sr:liool of Arts
Norlll Miilllli [le:I1:I,
North Miilllli
Hobert Morl~;lIl Voc'l cell
:;chool for Adv:lllced ~lIl1dies
~;oulll Dildo
Soulll Miami
Southwest Miilllli
11M/Knight Clllr,
r umer I ecllllic;iI A,-I s
COliN rYWIOr
Slalewid.., IIII' Icvl'l lIf college
r('adine~s is incldllg upward: 61;5 per-
CCllt oj' all studenls were conSidered
ready for colll'ge la~l f~lI, COlli pared
to 51l.5 percenl the l,revlOlls year, and
black and IIispanic ~ludenls ~howed
proportionatcly lIIore progress than
--------
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n_~~l(lh~~.___ Writing All areas
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51,G GlI,~ ~O
51.1 ?SA 35,2
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fjl\ 71.9 32,0
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2Ul 52,5 19.7
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, ill,9 B3,!) 72.3
~7A G,").7 32,1
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63.7 75 ~fJ
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71.3 7D.7 55
fl6 DO.7 7D,l
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62.7 12.G 48,7
f)?,9 GilA ~2,6
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74,3 BO,O 61.5
S1AIEWIDE
69.7
;,ounCf: f lorida r )('11," tnlcnt or LduC<l!ioll
Nole: 1111 ee high school, - eOl allleel, 01 Michael Krop and Bouker r. \"aslllnglon - airlnol have a 1998 g, adlJaling class,
to 20.4 in J997,
While Iawmakel ~ frequently
niticize the :1I11ll\ml of money
~pcnt on r<'ll1edial education,
Lukenbill said, l\IIJCC's experi-
ence shows iI's oftcn Ihe mo~1
effcctive lasl-re~lll"l inveslmenl
the state can make,
"\f wc can take students and
give Ihem anothl'l' chance alld
help them bc succe~sful, Ihc
cost 10 I ax)'ayers and I he com-
Illunit)' is much Ie'ss (~xpeusive
thall IOl1g'term ~upport for
people who can't rind jobs or
only low-paying job~," he said,
'The bottom I ine is good
news - with minorily stlldents
making Ihe most p,ain~:' said
Education COllul1i~~ioner Tom
Gallagher. "If we hold every-
body to high standards, the
achievcmenl gap can be
c1o~cd,"
Gallagher, a Republican and
a candidate for V,S. Senale, is a
strong proponent of (;ov, Jeb
Bush's A' Plan for Educalion,
which seeks 10 pellalize
school~ who~e students consis-
tenlly do poorly on standard-
ized tests,
The ~tatewide cOlnmunily
college average was 39,5 per-
cen!.
The levI') of readiness was
dramatically better at Florida's
JO stale universit ies, where 92,('
percent of incoming freshmen
from Florida were college-
ready, Stale universities re-
quirc the SAT college admis-
sion exam and a 19-course col-
lege-prep curriculum, and mo~t
of their freshllu'n have grade-
point average~ o{ al least J,O, III
most cases, Iheir college-readi-
ness was detel'/uilled b)' scores
011 Ihe SAT te~ts they look as I
high school juniors or seniors,
About one-half of the 96,000
studenls who received a high
school diplomil in Florida ill
199B enroll('d in a Florida com-
munil y college or universily
Ihal fall, the r<'l'ort ~aid.
The cDllege readiness report
does nol include grad\late~
I' Will privalt' high schools in
FIDrida or slndcnts w110 go to
private or ont-of-state colleges,
The rcport i~ 011 lille at
www.lirll.....II/doc/po~.sl.-