Destination of Dade County Public High School Graduates. Information Capsule.

This study, which uses data from the Florida Department of Education Readiness for College reports, tracks Dade County Public High School (DCPS) graduates' entries into Florida colleges during the year following their graduation. During the 1996-1997 year, 43% (5,773 graduates) did not enter public secondary education in Florida. Of the 7,805 graduates who did enter college, 65.5% enrolled at Miami-Dade, 15.5% at Florida International University (FIU), 5% each at University of Florida (UF) and Florida State University (FSU), and 3.3% at Broward Community College (BCC). The number of local high school graduates enrolling at Miami-Dade dropped by 341 students from 1995-96 to 1996-97. However, the total proportion of students going on to public postsecondary education increased from 52.0% in 1995-96 to 57.5% in 1996-97. The study also reports on individual high schools' entries into individual colleges. The findings for Miami-Dade Community Community College indicate that all but nine of the 26 high schools show a decreased enrollment at this college. In contrast, the state universities show an increased enrollment, of which 75% is accounted for by FIU; of the high schools tracked, 8 high schools show an increase in entries into FIU. BCC, however, does not draw a large proportion of graduates and is not considered a serious contender. Contains 5 tables. (VF)