FARGO — About 70% of graduates from Fargo's high schools have been planning to go on to college in each of the past three years, with the trend being more are staying in North Dakota to go to universities or to work.

That's what was found in a survey of about 850 Fargo seniors taken last spring and in other annual surveys that were presented to the Fargo School Board this past week by Andy Dahlen, principal of North High.

Another apparent trend is that students aren't feeling quite as safe in school, although a vast majority, or about 79%, said last spring that they agree or strongly agree high schools are safe.

However, that percentage has been falling, as about 88% of seniors in the previous two school years said they felt high school was safe.

Dahlen said in the most recent survey about 56% of the students were planning to stay in North Dakota to go to school, with the largest number staying right in Fargo to attend North Dakota State University.

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Second in popularity was the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks and in third place was the North Dakota State College of Science, based in Wahpeton.

Dahlen said one reason most students might be staying in North Dakota after graduation had to do with UND and NDSU moving up to Division 1 status.

As for the students going to NDSCS, Dahlen said field trips to area college are likely having an effect and he said strong vocational-technical programs in Fargo schools may be inspiring students to gravitate to NDSCS because it specializes in job-related courses.

Davies High School Principal Troy Cody said there are about 11 dual-credit classes offered at the high schools where students can earn both high school and college credits with NDSCS and he said some students might likely follow up by attending that college. He added that a dual-credit program with Valley City State University is starting this year.

In addition to those going to college, another 16% of students were planning to go to a two-year vocational technical school, with 4% headed for the military and 6% planning to work.

As for the students planning to work after graduation, Dahlen pointed out that a large majority, or 61%, were planning to stay in Fargo, which was a 4% increase from 2016-2017.

When looking at safety issues, Dahlen said most of the students feel "very safe" in their classrooms, but there are some concerns in less supervised areas such as the hallways and bathrooms.

"I think that's a trend you are seeing nationally, too," Dahlen said.

As the number of students who felt safe has been dropping, the number of students who said they felt unsafe has been increasing, climbing from 11% in the 2016-2017 school year to 21% this past school year.

School board member Rebecca Knutson said she wanted to see more details from the survey about why and where students feel less safe to see if there are any issues that could be addressed.

The news was more positive in other areas covered by the surveys.

In an area Dahlen described as "critical," about 76% of students responding said they felt academically challenged in schools.

Principals attributed that to more students taking advanced placement courses in the schools and to the teachers. The number of students taking such advanced classes has more than tripled in recent years, they said.

In that same realm, about 87% of the students said they felt their teachers had high expectations for them. That number has stayed steady the past three years.

Dahlen said what struck him about the survey is that a lot of the numbers have remained fairly consistent over the past three years.

"I think it shows that we have a strong tradition of great schools in the metro area." he said.

Another sign of that, he said, was that about 90 percent of students in each of the past three years said two or more adults knew them well at school.

"That shows a strong connection with students," Dahlen said.