Free Republic

Amid yet another round of budget negotiations, Democrats made a surprising and controversial proposal this week: Suspend the state's high school exit exam. The move was largely inspired by philosophical worries: Democrats on the influential budget conference committee say they cannot in good conscience mandate the exam for students while at the same time propose to slash education funding by millions of dollars more. "When the state is making cuts that could lead to a shorter school year, fewer teachers and larger class sizes, it doesn't seem realistic to expect the same results as before the cuts," said Assembly Speaker...

With the Class of 2006, California began requiring high-school students to score at least 60 percent on a test of 10th-grade English and at least 55 percent on eighth-grade math to graduate. With numerous chances to take this exit exam, 90 percent of all students pass it before the 12th grade and graduate with a diploma. Why, then, do the relative few not pass and not graduate with a diploma? Sean F. Reardon, an associate professor of education at Stanford University, is seeking answers. Using records of the San Diego, San Francisco, Fresno and Long Beach school districts, Reardon compared...

California high school students could obtain diplomas without passing an exit exam under legislation approved Tuesday by the Assembly. The measure, Assembly Bill 1379, is similar to legislation vetoed in 2005 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Passage of a high-stakes examination measuring mathematics and language skills is not the only way to demonstrate proficiency, according to supporters of AB 1379. The bill would require the state to develop alternative methods of measuring academic competence of students unable to pass the exit exam.

California education officials put forth artificially positive results on the number of students who passed the state's controversial high school exit exam last year, according to a recent UCLA study. The analysis also concluded that about 50,000 fewer students statewide earned diplomas last year compared to previous years, raising the prospect that the exit exam requirement is pressuring students to drop out. The decline in graduation rates was most pronounced in poor, heavily minority areas, the study found. "We've constructed a system that sets in place incentives for disinformation," said John Rogers, the study's author and co-director of UCLA's Institute...

Slightly more California high school seniors are buckling down this year than last year to pass the high school exit exam, which is required for a diploma. So far, 390,697 students -- about 91 percent of this year's 428,000 seniors -- have passed the test of basic reading and math skills, state schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell announced Monday. Last year at this time, 388,930 students -- about 89 percent of the 437,000 seniors in the Class of 2006 -- were successful. It means that this year, 1,767 more seniors have put that graduation hurdle behind them than at the same...

The California Court of Appeals is deciding whether to give diplomas -- at least for now -- to more than 20,000 students who would have graduated high school had they passed the state exit exam. Three appellate judges heard oral arguments in the so-called Valenzuela case today, giving lawyers nearly 90 minutes to argue whether those 20,000 students who fulfilled all other graduation requirements should graduate or continue to be denied a diploma. This year was the first year that the exam was a graduation requirement. Today's hearing was the latest in a 5-month case that has traveled up and...

CALIFORNIA has spent some $50 million developing and administering the high school exit exam, as mandated by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gray Davis. This was to be the first year passage of the exam would be a high-school graduation requirement -- except that an Oakland judge seems poised to throw the requirement aside. The legislative vote, executive approval and millions of dollars spent to develop and administer the test apparently mean nothing, not when a judge thinks a reform is not fair. I wish I were shocked at a last-minute judicial fiat that runs roughshod over a much-needed...

DUMBING DOWN OUR SCHOOLS A Public Agenda 2001 survey that found 86 percent of parents thought there should be a basic skills or more challenging test in order to receive a high school diploma, while only 12 percent thought it a bad idea. Yet, sensitivity to social injustice has led to a fear of failure and to a policy of minimal measurement in our nation's schools, says Pete du Pont (National Center for Policy Analysis). This in turn has led advocates to attempt to block high school graduation tests. o In New York, 25 different organizations, from the teachers unions...

<p>Tioga High School senior Tiffney Juneau let out tears of relief at Tuesday's Rapides Parish School Board meeting. The board voted to let her and many others in her shoes walk across the stage at graduation even though they have not passed their Graduation Exit Exam. Tioga High is north of Alexandria.</p>