Amid educational reforms to better prepare Hawaii public school students for college and careers, the number of college-going graduates last year remained flat, and nearly a third of those who enrolled at the University of Hawaii weren’t equipped to take entry-level math and English courses, according to a new report.

Fifty-four percent of the state’s 2013 public school graduates enrolled in two- and four-year colleges in the fall, nearly unchanged from the previous year’s college-going rate, according to the Department of Education’s annual college and career readiness indicators report released Tuesday by the Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education.

The state’s college-going rate had hovered at about 50 percent for several years before climbing to 53 percent in 2012 and to 54 percent the following year, but the isles still lag behind the national average of 62 percent. The department is working toward a goal of having 71 percent of graduates go on to college by 2018.

Some high schools have already topped that target, including Kalani High School, which last year saw 78 percent of seniors go off to college, the highest college-going rate among last year’s graduating classes, the report said. Mililani High and Roosevelt High rounded out the top three, with college-going rates of 71 percent and 70 percent, respectively.

At the other end of the scale, only 36 percent of graduates at both Nanakuli High & Intermediate and Waianae High last year went on to college.

"The college-going rate is stable, which is good, but the real story within this is the reduction in the percent of kids who need to take remedial courses when they go to the university," DOE Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

"It’s one thing to send a certain number of kids there, but then find out that they have to take remedial courses because they can’t take college-level courses. It tells us that we’re sending more kids prepared for college to college," he said.

Nearly 38 percent of last year’s graduates enrolled at a University of Hawaii campus, and approximately one in three of those students needed remedial courses, the report shows. (Remedial, or developmental, courses are designed to prepare students to complete college-level course requirements.)

Of those attending UH, 32 percent had to take a remedial math course, down from 36 percent the previous year, or 251 fewer students. The remedial rate was highest among seniors who did not take Algebra 2 or higher in high school, the report said.

Meanwhile, 31 percent of students enrolling at UH had to take a remedial English course, unchanged from the year before.

Students who have to take remedial courses are far less likely to complete courses and graduate, officials said.

Nozoe said schools are actively working to better prepare students by "first of all, bumping up the rigor in our schools to meet that level of academic expectations of college — that’s part of our overall strategic plan."

"Schools are also doing more dual credit options for students, so that while they’re in high school kids can take a college course and get a feel for it, which helps set them up for success," he said. "If they’re successful in a high school setting taking a college course, they’re more apt to be able to do well in college because they know what to expect."

The number of graduating seniors who took so-called dual credit courses for college credit while meeting high school diploma requirements increased by about 8 percent to 723 students, up from 671 students the year before and 607 seniors in 2011.

"Schools are also pushing more (Advanced Placement) courses out, having more kids pass AP exams," Nozoe said.

The number of graduates last year who took AP exams increased by three percentage points to 3,022 students, or 27 percent of last year’s graduating class. The number of students who passed an AP exam with a 3 or better, making them eligible to earn college credit, held steady at 39 percent compared with the previous year.