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In an experiment that could reshape American secondary education, high schools in eight states will introduce new courses next year, along with a battery of tests for sophomores, that will allow students who pass to get a diploma two years early and immediately enroll in community college. Students who pass but aspire to attend a selective college may continue with college preparatory courses in their junior and senior years, organizers of the new effort said. Students who fail the 10th grade tests, known as board exams, can try again at the end of their 11th and 12th grades. The tests...

A law adopting statewide high school exams for graduation took effect in Pennsylvania on Saturday, with the goal of ensuring that students leaving high school are prepared for college and the workplace. But critics say the requirement has been so watered down that it is unlikely to have major impact. The situation in Pennsylvania mirrors what has happened in many of the 26 states that have adopted high school exit exams. As deadlines approached for schools to start making passage of the exams a requirement for graduation, and practice tests indicated that large numbers of students would fail, many states...

The number of California high school dropouts spiked in 2006, the first year seniors were required to pass the state's exit exam to graduate, according to a report presented Wednesday to the state Board of Education. California's high school graduation rate also fell by about 4 percent from the previous year. The analysis found that 24,000 high school seniors dropped out in 2006, about 10,000 more than just four years earlier. The information could give ammunition to lawmakers and others who have criticized the exam, as well as those who have lobbied for alternative assessments. The firm that prepared the...

SACRAMENTO -- A state appeals court on Friday upheld California's high school exit exam, rejecting claims by a group of students who argued the exam discriminates against poor students and those who are learning English. The panel of three judges overturned a preliminary injunction issued in May by an Alameda County Superior Court judge who blocked the exam for this year's senior class. The panel ruled that trial court "abused its discretion" in weighing the legal arguments about whether the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their lawsuit. The appeals court intervened in the Alameda County decision after the state...

RICHMOND - During the bittersweet farewell to high school Thursday night, seniors Andrea Mallory and Liliana Valenzuela donned their red caps and gowns, ascended the steps of the Richmond Convention Center stage and grasped the hand of their principal. After four years at Richmond High, both girls captured a spot on the honor roll. Both plan to attend college. Both dream of entering medicine; Mallory for physical therapy, Valenzuela for nursing. When Mallory descended the wooden steps, she left proudly clutching a facsimile of the diploma she will pick up next week. Valenzuela held her own certificate. But in a...

SACRAMENTO - In an 11th-hour victory, 4,542 high school seniors will be allowed to graduate with their class this month because -- at last -- they passed California's controversial exit exam in March, the latest test results show. The newly victorious bring the total to 394,794 students in the Class of 2006, or about 90 percent, who have passed the graduation test required by the state for the first time this year. Still, 41,758 seniors have not yet passed the test of 8th- to 10th-grade math and English skills. What remains unclear is how many of those 41,758 seniors, who...

In defiance of state law, the Oakland school board voted tonight to grant diplomas to seniors who have not passed the state-required exit exam, in a 4-2 vote. However, because the bankrupt district is under state control and the board has been stripped of decision-making powers, the resolution cannot be enforced unless approved by state-appointed Administrator Randolph Ward. Ward was chosen to lead the district by State Superintendent Jack O'Connell, who authored the exit exam legislation, in 2003. Ward left the meeting before the board voted and could not be reached for comment. "Let's not be frightened by O'Connell. Let's...

A state court of appeals has decided against ruling on the high school exit exam before graduation, dealing what seems a final blow to 47,000 high school seniors who flunked the test required for a diploma. On Thursday, the appellate court scheduled oral arguments for July 25, more than a month after most students would have donned a cap and gown. Lawyers for students suing over the test asked justices to settle the issue of diplomas now, reserving the right to decide the merits of the case later. Friday afternoon, the court denied the request. Arturo Gonzalez, the lawyer representing...

Students suing over the high school exit exam made a last-minute plea to an appeals court Thursday, asking the justices to decide the fight over 2006 diplomas before the bulk of graduation ceremonies begin around the state. Acting on orders from the state Supreme Court, the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco on Thursday morning had set oral arguments on the test for July 25. Arturo Gonzalez, a lawyer representing students challenging the exam, then asked the appeals court for quicker action. In judicial terms, the July 25 date places the exit exam in a high-priority position. The...

SAN FRANCISCO - The San Francisco attorney who sued the state on behalf of high school seniors who failed the exit exam that is required to earn a diploma filed an emergency request today for an expedited hearing with the California Court of Appeal. On Wednesday, the state's Superior Court voted to stay the order from a lower court that would allow all members of the Class of 2006 to graduate, regardless of whether they had passed the controversial exam. The Superior Court also sent the matter to the Court of Appeal. Arturo Gonzalez, the attorney who sued the state...

Two weeks ago when a judge struck down California's exit exam, 17-year-old Salvador Rodriguez thought he would be graduating from high school in June with his friends. But the state Supreme Court's decision Wednesday to reinstate the exit exam has thrown Salvador's diploma in limbo, again. The Richmond High School senior has taken the exam twice, but doesn't know if he passed his most recent try. "I'm anxious, nervous. There's a lot on my shoulders," said Salvador, who dreams of attending UC Berkeley. "In a way, it'd be cool to let us graduate, but that wouldn't be the honest answer....

San Francisco -- The California Supreme Court has reinstated the state exit exam as a graduation requirement

SACRAMENTO - California schools chief Jack O'Connell said he will ask the state Supreme Court on Friday to overturn last week's ruling that brought California's high school exit exam to a sudden halt. The ruling, which came just weeks before high school seniors around the state are scheduled to graduate, was welcome news for nearly 47,000 12th-graders who have not yet passed the exit exam, a diploma requirement for the first time this year. But O'Connell sees the test of 8th- to 10th-grade math, English and algebra skills as a way to hold students to higher academic standards, and to...

SACRAMENTO -- The judge who suspended California's high school exit exam for this year's graduating class ruled Tuesday in favor of the state in a separate lawsuit over the test. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman rejected a request from Californians for Justice Education to grant a writ suspending the exam until the Legislature has time to consider alternatives. The lawsuit claims Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell and the state Board of Education broke state law by failing to properly consider other assessments for students who can't pass the exam. The judge agreed the state did not fully...

One dictionary defines "nonsensical" as "foolish, silly, absurd," a definition to keep in mind while pondering the political and legal flap over California's high school exit exam. It is difficult to decide which is the more nonsensical -- a judge's decision to block the state from denying diplomas to nearly 50,000 high school seniors because they haven't passed the exit exam, or the test itself. Last Friday, Alameda Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman enjoined the state from enforcing the test requirement, a decision clearly rooted more in ideology or philosophy than the law. He endorsed, for example, the plaintiffs' contention...

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman is expected to rule on a third exit exam lawsuit today. Californians for Justice filed a writ in April claiming that the state failed to study graduation alternatives to the exit exam requirement soon enough to benefit the class of 2006, the first group of students who must to pass the math and English test in order to receive a diploma. At a hearing Monday afternoon, Freedman said that he would consider today the state's argument that the suit was similar enough to another lawsuit, Valenzuela v. O'Connell, that the writ should be...

This past week, a judge in Oakland, California said he thought the state’s high school exit exam is flawed, because it failed to account for English language learners’ inability to read the test. That is, since the test requires that those with limited English skills take and pass the test in English, it discriminates against those students. Never mind that, no matter where you go in this country, English language skills are an important part of success. Never mind that a student should be able to read the high school diploma they are receiving when they graduate. Insuring competence in...

John and Ken just said the judge in the case said he was leaning toward issuing a restraining order against the high school exit exam for graduation in June 2006

Pre-test pep talks that singled out black and Latino students at California High School have angered some parents and resulted in apologies from the principal. The talks were not given to students of any other ethnic backgrounds and prompted a visit to the school from San Ramon Mayor H. Abram Wilson who was alerted by calls from parents. "I feel that the entire school should have been encouraged to do well on the test," with no groups singled out, said Wilson, who is black. "The city is a very unique city. We look at everyone being the same, period." Principal...

fter warnings from state education officials and lawyers, the West Contra Costa school board voted Monday against giving diplomas to students who fail to pass the California high school exit exam. State law demands student pass the English and math test to graduate from high school starting this year. Board member Dave Brown proposed last week that the 32,000-student West Contra Costa school district grant diplomas to seniors who meet credit requirements and either pass the test or complete a senior project. The proposal, the first of its kind in the state, failed 4-1. "We are not a diploma mill....