LANCASTER -- Antelope Valley Union High School District's efforts to get more of its graduates to attend college appear to be having an impact.

More students are taking college preparatory courses and a higher number of local high school graduates are enrolling at Antelope Valley College, which also has seen an increase in the number of students transferring to four-year institutions.

"There are three times many more students grabbing SAT booklets from the college career center," said Linda Fabela, coordinator of Littlerock High School's college prep program AVID, or Advancement Via Individual Determination. "There are more students going to college."

The Antelope Valley lags behind the state in the number of students going to college. According to state figures, 9 percent of Antelope Valley's recent high school graduates advanced on to college in the University of California and California State University systems, compared with 18 percent statewide.

Twenty-eight percent went on to community college, versus 31 percent statewide.

But Antelope Valley College statistics show an improving picture since 2000, the year the AVID program and UCLA's Early Academic Outreach Program started in the high school district.

Total AVC enrollment as of fall 2003 was 12,073, up from 10,728 in the fall of 2000. Students feeding into AVC from 12 Antelope Valley high schools has jumped from 1,125 in 2000 to 2,459 in 2003, records show.

The overall number of students transferring from AVC to campuses in the University of California and California State University systems has increased since 1999-2000 from 419 to 529 in 2002-03.

The number of AVC students transferring to UCLA has nearly doubled in the same period from 16 to 28, the highest of any UC campus, records show.

California State University, Bakersfield, drew the largest number of AVC students with 182 in 2002-03, up from 120 in 1999-2000.

The number of high school students completing college preparatory courses is increasing but it's still below county averages, said Richard Chapleau, the 1995 California Teacher of the Year who teaches at Lancaster High School and is working at getting more Antelope Valley teens to attend college.

"We are seeing some increase. We would like to see more," Chapleau said. "We are seeing some impact, which is nice. I am an overall optimist. We really are sending more kids through rigorous courses that are preparing them for college."

The AVID program started at Littlerock High School and has since spread to or will soon start at Antelope Valley, Highland, Knight, and Quartz Hill high schools, said Tina Kaveney, AVID senior program specialist.

The program, which now serves 500 students, targets students in the "middle" whose grade-point averages range from 2.0 to 3.5 and whose parents didn't go to college.

"The high-end GATE (Gifted and Talented Education program) students have support. They are lower-performing students who have special education. Traditionally in education that whole group in the middle doesn't get served by any one program," Kaveney said. "AVID targets kids who have the potential to make it to college.

"We saw a need to help kids who are first-generational college-going children, to help them through the hidden curriculum, the parts they don't know about going to college, so AVC would not be the only option," Kaveney said.

AVID students get tutoring from college students and help in improving study skills and time management, and they enroll in Advanced Placement and honors classes, Kaveney said.

UCLA's Early Academic Outreach Program currently serves 326 students at Antelope Valley, Littlerock and Palmdale high schools.

Those schools were targeted because of their low-income student populations and low numbers of graduates advancing on to four-year post-secondary institutions.

Academic outreach program staff meet with students during the school year to go over courses they need to take, check on grades and ensure they take the required tests.

Students also enroll in test preparation workshops, study skills sessions, and summer courses at UCLA, free of charge.

"There's a lot of work to be done still. A lot of people see money as a barrier. There are different ways for people to pay off college," said Rosa Fuller, the early academic program coordinator.

"We are trying to tell them, you don't drop the money all at once. It's an investment you make to get long-term results. We hear from students that parents don't want to pay or can't afford it and are dismissing it right off the bat," Fuller said.