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Ca HSEE - HumRRO
Peter:
Go here to read the HumRRO reports for yourself.
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/hs/evaluations.asp
At 04:28 AM 3/14/2006 -0800, you wrote:
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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