Exit exam pass rate up slightly

[George Sheridan <learn@jps.net>]

Exit exam pass rate up slightly
August ceremony awaits local students who passed in May.
By Laurel Rosenhall -- Bee Staff Writer
Published Saturday, July 22, 2006
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/v-print/story/14280852p-15089118c.html

The success rate on the California High School Exit Exam inched higher in 
May as an additional 1,759 students in the class of 2006 passed the test.

For California high schools the total pass rate is now 90.8 percent, 
according to figures released Friday by the state Department of Education.

The newly graded tests mean an estimated 40,173 students in the class still 
have not passed the exam, which, for the first time, is a graduation 
requirement. At the start of the school year, more than 90,000 seniors had 
not passed the test of basic math and English skills.

"These numbers show steady improvement," said state Superintendent Jack 
O'Connell, speaking to reporters by phone from a high school in Los 
Angeles. "I credit the exam with focusing both our students and our schools."

The new figures reflect a slight increase from the last test results, 
released in early June, when 90.4 percent of the class had passed the test.

The new count does not include students with disabilities, a group that 
struggled with the exam and received a last-minute exemption. Roughly 
20,000 to 25,000 students with disabilities in the class of 2006 were 
allowed to graduate without passing the exit exam.

All public school students begin taking the test as sophomores and -- if 
they fail -- keep trying throughout their junior and senior years. The 
two-day exam tests students on middle school level math plus algebra and 
English skills taught in ninth and 10th grades.

Scores released Friday reflect tests seniors took in May, the final exam 
session of the school year. Students who took the May test did not receive 
diplomas in June because scores were unknown on graduation day.

Daniel Perez is one of them. The 17-year-old Sacramentan passed the math 
part of the exam as a sophomore. But as a recent immigrant from Mexico, he 
struggled with the English portion of the test and was unable to graduate 
with his classmates last month.

His struggle ended this week, when Perez learned that he passed the English 
test he took in May. But the news was bittersweet.

"I'm happy about it," Perez said. "(But) I feel confused. My friends were 
walking the stage last time and this time it's only me."

Perez will graduate in August during a ceremony for Sacramento City Unified 
School District students who passed the exit exam over the summer.

An additional 21 students in the district just learned that they passed the 
test they took in May, said Maria Lopez, spokeswoman for Sacramento City 
Unified.

O'Connell, the state schools chief, praised students like Perez during his 
announcement Friday.

"I'm very proud of our students, particularly of those who struggled to 
pass but kept studying until they passed," he said.

For the 40,000 students who finished high school without passing the exit 
exam, O'Connell urged perseverance -- take the test again next week, he 
told them, go back to high school for a fifth year, enroll in adult school 
or community college.

O'Connell repeated Friday what has become his mantra in recent months: 
Students who fail the test have an incomplete education and should work to 
complete it.

The message will be challenged in court next week, when exit exam opponents 
and lawyers for the state will argue before the state Court of Appeal in 
San Francisco. The hearing is part of an ongoing lawsuit challenging the 
constitutionality of the exam.

About the writer: The Bee's Laurel Rosenhall can be reached at (916) 
321-1083 or lrosenhall@sacbee.com.



George Sheridan
Northside School
Cool, California 95614