Re: SacBee Editorial

[Peter Farruggio <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>]

Who or what is HumRRO, and how independent are they?  Did they 
publish their data?

"The state's independent evaluator of the exit exam, HumRRO, in its 
September report recommended that the state retain the exit exam 
requirement and consider other options for students who have failed: 
helping students master the targeted skills; giving students more 
time - additional schooling, summer school, community college; 
exploring the idea of a senior-year portfolio."

Pete Farruggio


From: George Sheridan <learn@jps.net>

At 06:19 PM 3/13/2006, you wrote:
> They want to be sure we know which side they are on.
>
> Editorial: Exit exam hyperbole
> There's still time to get the diploma
> Published Monday, March 13, 2006
> Story appeared in Editorials section, Page B4
> http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/14229592p-15052681c.html
>
>
> A lawyer suing the state made the wild claim that the "only avenue" 
> left for students in the Class of 2006 to receive a diploma is 
> litigation. He was responding to last Wednesday's decision by the 
> state Board of Education to reject alternatives to the state's exit exam.
>
> His assertion is nonsense. Seniors still have more dates to take and 
> pass the exam. Equally important, Superintendent of Public 
> Instruction Jack O'Connell has said many times that students who do 
> not pass are not denied a diploma indefinitely: "It simply means 
> that their basic education is not complete," and they must continue 
> their schooling to get the required math and reading skills. At the 
> beginning of the school year, more than 90,000 seniors had not passed the exam.
>
> Arturo Gonzales of the Morrison & Foerster law firm wrote in a brief 
> that the state has done nothing to study alternatives to the exit 
> exam. Not true. The state's High School Exit Examination Panel met 
> 19 times between July 1999 and January 2001 to develop the test, 
> consider other states' policies regarding exit exams and listen to 
> national experts.
>
> A consultant, WestEd, examined alternative assessment approaches in 
> other states for students with disabilities - and for the general 
> student population. In a report last May, the consultant concluded 
> that none of the alternatives provided "an equivalent alternative" 
> to the exit exam.
>
> The state's independent evaluator of the exit exam, HumRRO, in its 
> September report recommended that the state retain the exit exam 
> requirement and consider other options for students who have failed: 
> helping students master the targeted skills; giving students more 
> time - additional schooling, summer school, community college; 
> exploring the idea of a senior-year portfolio.
>
> Two months later, the superintendent solicited public input on 
> alternatives with rigor equal to the exit exam: "For any alternative 
> to be acceptable, it would have to guarantee the student's knowledge 
> of the standards the California High School Exit Exam assesses." He 
> looked at and rejected alternatives that would allow students to 
> substitute another exam (such as the SAT) as not aligned with 
> California's standards; or essay exams that depend on highly 
> variable local scoring; or portfolios that undercut the whole idea 
> of having a uniform standard of performance. He rejected the idea of 
> local school districts coming up with their own assessments.
>
> The state Board of Education, by its unanimous vote Wednesday, 
> agreed with the superintendent.
>
> The problem is not, as Gonzales claims, that the state has not 
> studied alternatives. The state has decided that no alternative it 
> examined ensures mastery of the skills tested by the exit exam. Many 
> avenues remain open for helping students acquire the basic math and 
> reading skills needed for a California high school diploma. The 
> avenue of litigation only delays the reckoning.
>
>
> George Sheridan
>
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