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By Alex Guerrero

Between college and entering the workforce, college is still the most popular option for recent Albert Lea High School students.

 That’s according to a report from John Double, principal of Albert Lea’s Online Academy, given to members of the Albert Lea school board Monday in an update about the Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System.

“About 85% of our students thought they would go to college as juniors,” he said.

But that was not the case.

In the years 2010-20, students in Albert Lea Area Schools enrolled in a Minnesota college the fall after graduation 45% of the time, while 18% of students enrolled in an outstate college. Twenty-eight percent of graduates headed straight into the workforce, an increase of 1% since the last time the study was conducted. 

Those numbers are slightly lower compared to the southeast region, where 46.7% of students enrolled in a Minnesota college after graduation, 21.27% enrolled in an outstate college and 23.27% headed to the workforce. 

For the state, 49% of students enrolled in a Minnesota college, while 19% enrolled in an outstate college and 22% percent of students went straight into the workforce.

“Entering employment went up in all categories statewide and regional as well as our own district,” Double said. “When taking a look at those numbers, the southeast region actually has gone up a percent every year entering employment directly.”

According to Double, in 2020 30% of students headed directly to the workforce was 30%. 

In comparison, enrolling in college — either in Minnesota or elsewhere — dipped.

The number of students entering the workforce straight from high school went up 1% for students in Albert Lea Area Schools, 1% for students in the southeast region and .12% as a whole in the state.

In terms of students attending college the fall after graduation, the survey showed an increase in the number of students attending a public school compared to a private one. Twenty-four percent of Albert Lea Area Schools students attended a four-year public school in Minnesota (+1.5%), 37% attended a two-year school (+1.2%), 9% attended a four-year private school,, 1% attended a private two-year school (-.5%)l and 29% went to school outside the state (-2%). 

In the southeast region, 26.1% of students attended a four-year private school in Minnesota (+.1%), 31.9% attended a two-year public school (+.15%), 9.45% attended a four-year private school (-.18%), 1.45% attended a two-year private school (-.18%) and 31.18% went outside of Minnesota (+.18). 

As a state, 28% of graduates attended a four-year public school, 30% attended a two-year public school (-.63%), 13% attended a four-year private school, 2% attended a two-year private school (-.38%) and 28% of Minnesotans went outside the state (+.5%).

Students who attended college also tended to leave at a slightly higher rate.

In Albert Lea Area Schools, 84.5% of students stayed for a second academic year (-1.37%), 72.37% stayed for their third year (-1.46%) and 63.24% stayed for their fourth year (-1.39%).

That trend is the opposite of the state’s, where 84.12% stayed for a second year (-.05%), 75.37% stayed for their third year (+.04%) and 68.12% stayed four years (+.12%).

In terms of high school graduates completing a degree or certificate at any time, 5% of Albert Lea Area Schools students graduated with a certificate or diploma, 14.4% with an associate degree, 34.2% with a bachelor’s and 53.6% with any combination of degrees. Those numbers are all down from the last time data was tracked.

In the southeast region, 5.2% of high school graduates completed a certificate or diploma program, 11% completed an associate’s degree, 40% earned a bachelor’s degree and 56% earned some type of degree.

In Minnesota, 5% earned a certificate or diploma, 10.33% completed an associate’s degree, 40% earned a bachelor’s and 55% had some type of degree.

Double also touched on the top four employment industries after graduation for students from Albert Lea Area Schools, which were trade, transportation and utilities; leisure and hospitality; manufacturing; and education and health care. 

“It’s interesting we’ve got a fourth one that’s joined the ranks… ,” he said. “Manufacturing has just come into the scene.” 

Hourly wages were also on the rise in the industries. 

For example, in 2010 the hourly wage for an employee in trade, transportation and utilities was $8.74 in 2010, while in 2020 the wage rose to $13.10. For leisure and hospitality, the wage rose from $7.96 to $12.16. Education and health care rose from $12.29 in 2016 to $15.98 in 2020, while in manufacturing the average wage in 2019 was $14.85, while in 2020 it rose to $15.44.

Within the county, 25.1% of employees 16 and over went into educational services and health care and social assistance. Seven percent went into arts, entertainment and recreation and accommodation and food services, 3.4% in finance and insurance, real estate and rental and leasing, professional scientific and management and administrative and waste management services. Just over 3% went into public administration, while 4.8% entered another service.

Double also talked about U.S. Census Bureau data from 2019.

For example, in Albert Lea, only 5.2% of students 25 or older had less than a ninth-grade education. That number was higher than the 3.7% of students in the county and 2.9% of students in the state.

Albert Lea also had a lower number of residents who graduated high school, with 85%. Freeborn County had 88.8% of students graduate in 2019, while Minnesota as a whole graduated 93.1%.

The most significant discrepancy was in the percentage of students from Albert Lea who graduated with a bachelor’s degree or higher. About 16.4% of students achieved that degree. That number is comparable to the 17.1% who achieved that degree in the county, but significantly less than the 36.1% of Minnesota students who achieved that degree. 

The board then went into closed session for labor negotiations.

In other action, the board:

• Approved a local union 1018 custodial employee master agreement for the years 2021-23.
• Approved a memorandum of understanding with the Albert Lea Education Association. Nineteen teachers had been pulled from their roles, most non-instructional, to help with substitute teaching. Over the course of nine days those teachers filled in for 103 district openings. The memorandum asked the teachers be paid their one-hour per diem for taking on the additional work. The move is similar to when teachers take on an additional class during the day.