The impact of the college core curriculum at Banning High School, Wilmington, California, was assessed by comparing the secondary and postsecondary experience of its June 1980 graduates with that of alumni who graduated in 1976 before the program began. The college core curriculum at Banning, which serves a predominantly low-income, ethnic minority population, is designed to improve the academic performance and college persistence of graduates. It was found that approximately one-third of the school's students enroll in this curriculum and that, in comparison to their 1976 college-bound counterparts, the first graduating class of the curriculum took considerably more of the courses required for admission to the University of California, particularly in mathematics and English. Additional findings include: more graduates of the program attended four-year institutions, particularly the State University, compared to the college-going members of the class of 1976; the proportion of the entire graduating class attending college has increased; and 1980 graduates of the program performed better at the University of California during their first year than did 1976 graduates, and considerably better than their 1980 non-college core curriculum counterparts. (SW)