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Questions To Ask Lawmakers:
Try It In Your State
This test is designed to gauge the knowledge of California policymakers about key issues in California education. The test has no time limit. Notes and other research may be consulted. Policymakers may take the test in a team with their staff. As with the California High School Exit Exam, the stakes are high.
1. What is California's rank among all fifty states for per pupil spending, when adjusted for the cost of living?
a) 33rd
b) 37th
c) 41st
d) 48th
2. What is California's rank among all fifty states in the student-teacher ratio?
a) 5th
b) 12th
c) 24th
d) 50th
3) The state will deny diplomas based on High School Exit Exam results to students who
a) have met every other requirement of graduation
b) already dropped out of high school
c) did not complete the classes required to graduate
4) The ratio 21:1 represents a relationship
between what two things?
a) The number of prisons built to number
of state universities built since 1984
b) The number of state universities
built to number of prisons built since 1984
5) Which agency commented that tests such as exit examinations "are a civil rights issue for minority studentsin particular" and that "we continue to have concerns as to whether all students in the Class of 2004 will have adequate opportunity to learn the material covered by the CAHSEE by the time they complete the twelfth grade"?
a) a civil rights advocacy organization, in a legal brief submitted to the state
b) a youth-serving agency, in a flyer to youth and parents
c) a teacher organization, on its website informing teachers of policy issues
d) a research agency in official studies commissioned by the state on the exit exam
6) In 2001-2002, the state spent $61 million on the administration of the High School Exit Exam. If those funds were spent to hire new teachers,counselors, and school nurses instead, how much money would be available to the 100 high schools in the state with the highest concentration of low-income students?
a) $610,000 per school
b) $61,000 per school
c) $610 per school
Essay Question
One of the concerns with the CAHSEE is that it punishes kids for the state's failure to provide a quality education. The same kids with the worst school conditions are the ones most likely to fail the CAHSEE. For example, according to a study by Peter Harris Research Group, schools with high numbers of English learners and high concentrations of poverty are most likely to have uncredentialed teachers. These are the same schools which have populations that are majority students of color.
Should children be punished for these educational disparities?
What should the state do to guarantee a real opportunity to learn for all kids?
Answers:
1.d
2.d
3.a
4.a
5.d
6.a
— Californians for Justice
State Accountability Exam
June 26, 2002
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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