Theresa Harrington, July 9, 2019
Wen Jazhun Brown first transferred to De Anza High as a junior, poor grades made him an unlikely candidate to graduate on time. His GPA was low and he had failed biology. That changed after school counselors, college advisers and teachers helped him see he could reach his goal of becoming a police officer by retaking courses and working hard to successfully complete others.
He graduated last month and will enroll this fall at Sacramento State University
“My grades were not always good and I was getting off track,” said Brown, 18, looking back on his rocky start at De Anza, in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, with a sophomore year GPA of 2.0. “Last year (first semester of senior year) was the first time I ever got a 4.0 GPA. That really came from this school pushing me — having counselors on my side — pushing me and helping me do better. This year, I was like, ‘I’m going to do it!’”
De Anza’s efforts to keep students on track to graduate and go to college, some of which started six years ago, reflect a push across California for schools to increase the number of students graduating from high school. And, like many of the schools statewide seeing higher graduation rates, De Anza is using a variety of tools, such as tutoring, career-themed courses, online credit recovery options and academic counseling.
The result has been a steady improvement in graduation rates to 89 percent in 2017-18, higher than the state average of 83 percent. That’s a reversal of 2012-13, when the school’s graduation rate of 77 percent lagged the 80 percent state average.
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