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California Delays Exit Exam--for Two Years

The state Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday to postpone the high school exit exam requirement for two years, saying that not all students have been properly prepared to take the high-stakes test.

The board voted 9-0 to require the class of 2006 to pass the test to get a diploma. A proposal to delay the test three years failed on a 4-5 vote.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, the author of the 1999 legislation that created the exit exam, urged the two-year delay. "Not all of our students have had the opportunity to learn," O'Connell said. "It makes sense to me to step back a moment and briefly delay the high school exit exam."

But he said the state must eventually enforce the requirement.

"A high school diploma must stand for something," O'Connell said. "When we set a high bar, our students will meet those higher expectations."

O'Connell said a report on the exam found the passing rates of first-time test-takers have been improving.

Board President Reed Hastings said the two-year delay will give students more time to prepare while keeping the pressure on schools to educate the students. Hastings previously said it wasn't a question of whether to postpone the exam, but for how long.

A few dozen students in the audience held signs reading, "Two years is not enough."

About 200 students, parents and activists who couldn't fit in the board auditorium marched outside, chanting and waving signs.

"It's unfair to punish the students for the failure of the state," said Yvonne Tran, who just graduated from high school in San Jose.

Under the 1999 law, the class of 2004 was supposed to be the first that would have to pass the California High School Exit Exam to graduate. Students have eight chances to take the test during their high school years.

O'Connell canceled this year's July test, and said he would also cancel the September and November tests, if the board voted to postpone it as a graduation requirement.

In a letter last month to school district superintendents, O'Connell said a report found that about 20 percent of the class of 2004 would fail the test's math portion and not graduate.

The report also said about half of students who aren't fluent in English and three-quarters of special education students would not be eligible for diplomas because of poor test performance.

Even before the report, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock was concerned about the effect of "high-stakes" testing. Hancock, D-Berkeley, introduced a bill that would delay the graduation requirement until 2006.

"We know that in Texas, which instituted a high-stakes exit exam, there was an increase in dropouts," she said.

Last month, the Assembly voted 43-28 to keep the exit exam as a measure of student performance, but to delay making it a graduation condition. The bill was approved by the Senate Education Committee last week.

Hancock said Tuesday that even if the board votes to delay the test requirement, she'll still push for her bill because it also requires a report on alternatives to the test, such as portfolios of student work.

"The two-year delay allows us to look at alternatives and allows us to have more students go through the rigorous standards-based instruction we've put in place in California," she said.

The exam -- one day of math and two days of English tests -- are aligned with the academic standards California adopted in 1997.




— Associated Press
State delays high school exit exam
Sacramento Bee
July 9, 2003
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/ca/story/6999012p-7947736c.html

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