Los Angeles Schools Struggle With Curriculum Overhaul

Small fraction of seniors passing college-prep courses

Seven years after leaders in the Los Angeles school system approved a sweeping overhaul of the high school curriculum that promised to produce more college-ready graduates, the vast majority of city students are falling short of completing the rigorous series of courses just as it is about to become a requirement for earning a diploma.

Last year, only 15 percent of graduating seniors who entered a Los Angeles high school four years earlier completed the 15 college-preparatory courses with a passing grade of C or better. Successful completion of those classes—a series of core academic courses and electives commonly called the "A-G sequence" —is required by the University of California and California State University systems to be eligible for admission.

That disappointing track record—and the looming deadline to fully implement the more demanding graduation requirements—has prompted leaders in the nation's second-largest school district to partly scale back the plan that...