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Push to raise scores on exit exam pays off in California
Posted Date: 27 Aug 2007 Resource Type: Articles/Knowledge Sharing Category: Education
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Posted By: Niyaz Member Level: Gold
Rating:  Points: 7
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Prodded, cajoled and often heavily tutored, at least 27,000 more students in the Class of 2007 passed the high school exit exam than members of the Class of 2006, the year when passing it became a diploma requirement.
The improved pass rate, from 91 to 93 percent of each graduating class, suggests that the once-controversial graduation hurdle is now just another part of the teenage landscape, state schools chief Jack O'Connell said Thursday as he released the new statewide figures.
"What a difference a year makes," he said, noting that last year at this time the state had barely survived a lawsuit intended to kill the graduation requirement, which measures students' proficiency in seventh- to 10th-grade English and math.
Students begin trying to pass the exit exam as sophomores and may continue indefinitely - even after their peers have walked across the stage on commencement day. But getting students to pass the test of basic skills has become a top priority in California, and schools have added plenty of small-group tutoring classes, stepped up the encouraging words and even eliminated social studies classes so that the kids who need the most help can double up on English and math.
The new state budget allocates $188 million for even more tutoring after school and during the summer, as well as $72 million for extra help during the school day.
On top of that, a legal settlement reached in July requires districts to provide two extra years of tutoring to students who haven't passed the exit exam by graduation day.
Groups that have an equally tough time passing the test are low-income students and African American and Latino students of all income levels.
In the Class of 2007, about 88 percent of each of these groups passed the test.
Yet all three groups had higher pass rates than they did a year earlier: African American students improved by almost five percentage points, Latinos by three points and low-income students by almost three percentage points.
By contrast, more than 98 percent of white students in the Class of 2007 passed the test, up from 97 percent a year ago.
Among Asian Americans, more than 96 percent in the Class of 2007 passed the test, up from 95 percent a year ago.
"The achievement gap is real, glaring, stark and persistent," O'Connell said.
The numbers mirror what he has been saying all year: The disparity can't be blamed on family income alone.
O'Connell said he has been criticized for trying to shift the focus from income disparities to ethnic disparities. But he said the data show disparities in both areas, and he will hold a summit on the achievement gap Nov. 13 and 14 in Sacramento.
"We want to have some difficult conversations," he said. African American and Latino students need "more relationships and role models," and they tend to have more inexperienced teachers than other students, he said.
Two other groups of students have consistently had even a tougher time passing the exit exam: students with special education needs and those who don't speak much English. In the Class of 2007, 49 percent of special education students passed. Among English learners, 77 percent passed the test.
Special education students are allowed to graduate even if they haven't passed the test.
English learners have no such exemption and appear less likely to graduate from high school now than they were before the exit examination requirement took effect.
The trend also is evident in the 20 or so other states that have exit exams, according to the Center on Education Policy, which tracks the tests.
In California, state education records show there were 443,154 seniors in the Class of 2007. Of those, an estimated 93.3 percent - or 413,463 students - passed the exam, while 29,691 did not.
A year earlier, there were 423,289 seniors in the Class of 2006. Of those, an estimated 91.2 percent- or 386,040 students - passed, while 37,249 did not.
An informal survey of school districts conducted by the state Department of Education indicates that the vast majority of students who failed the exit exam didn't have enough credits to graduate even if they had passed the test, O'Connell said. Only about 3 to 6 percent would have otherwise graduated, he said.
Pass rates for individual high schools and school districts will be released this fall.
This year, the state's Community College system has set aside $10 million in grants so that community colleges can help students who haven't passed the test.
Last year, about 60 exit exam refugees enrolled in classes at Laney College in Oakland to bring up their skills and either pass the exit exam or study a vocation - from contracting to cosmetology - that does not require students to pass the test.
"It was an ad hoc program," said Gary Yee, a Laney College vice chancellor and member of the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education.
This year, Yee got a $360,000 grant to formalize the program at Laney, Merritt and Alameda community colleges and expand it to about 350 students.
"Life's not over because you haven't passed the exit exam," said Laney Chancellor Frank Chong.
And there's a chance that the program will be free. Chong and Yee are checking into whether students who haven't passed the test are technically still high school students and thus entitled to take community college classes gratis.
"We'll need to clarify that," Chong said.
On Thursday, O'Connell released statewide pass rates and results for first-time test-takers in the 10th grade. To see all the latest results, go to cahsee.cde.ca.gov or sfgate.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/static/cahsee.html/ca.
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