exit exam editorial

[George Sheridan <learn@jps.net>]

Editorial: Exit exam clarity
Judges send unmistakable messages

Published Saturday, August 19, 2006
http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/14300918p-15165614c.html


A three-judge panel of California's 1st District Court of Appeal sent a 
clear message in an important Aug. 11 decision: The lawyers who sought to 
force California to give diplomas to students who do not have basic English 
and math skills took a sharp wrong turn in their case challenging 
California's high school exit exam.

The judges ripped to shreds the silly arguments that equated a piece of 
paper with an actual education: "A high school diploma is not an education, 
any more than a birth certificate is a baby," they wrote.

They stated the obvious: "The purpose of education is not to endow students 
with diplomas, but to equip them with the substantive knowledge and skills 
they need to succeed in life."

It would be a "bitter hoax," wrote the judges, to give diplomas to students 
who do not have basic academic skills. Worse, handing out diplomas to these 
students wrongly lets the state escape responsibility for actually 
educating them.

The judges commended the state for targeting extra assistance to school 
districts with the greatest share of students not passing the exam. But 
oddly, the lawyers challenging the exam never asked the court to require 
the state to expand that funding to reach all students not passing the 
exam. The lawyers were so focused on the question of diplomas that they did 
not ask the court to require the state to develop a plan to ensure that all 
students have a full and fair opportunity to learn the skills tested on the 
exam.

So, it was left to the judges to make the challenge to the state. That 
message, too, was clear: Find practical solutions quickly to make sure 
students have an "adequate opportunity to prepare properly" for the exit 
exam -- or expect to be back in court.

This is doable. Sacramento City Unified School District, for example, 
prepared an individualized work plan for each student in the class of 2006 
who did not pass the exit exam. All were offered extra classes before 
school, after school and on Saturdays.

English learners, many of whom have been in our school system for fewer 
than six years, received bilingual instruction in their intervention 
classes. For the class of 2007, the school district worked this summer with 
Sacramento Area Congregations Together to conduct home visits with students 
who failed the exit exam on their first try.

The district also offered a summer "Bridge Program" to eighth-graders who 
have tested "below basic" on the California Standards Test. Without extra 
help now, these students are not likely to pass the exit exam on their 
first try in 10th grade.

The judges urged the two sides to get beyond a "fog of war" mentality and 
work on practical, realistic solutions such as these. Rather than meeting 
in court as adversaries, advocates for disadvantaged students and the 
state's top education officials should find ways for struggling students to 
pass this very basic exam. That message is as clear as it is welcome.

*


George Sheridan