Posted on 05/24/2006 1:55:45 PM PDT by cakid
Calif. Supreme Court reinstates exit exam By DAVID KRAVETS, Associated Press Writer 25 minutes ago
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated the state's high school exit exam as a graduation requirement, but it was not immediately clear whether the decision means tens of thousands of high school seniors who failed the test won't graduate this year.
The high court ordered a state appeals court to hold hearings in the case.
This year's class was the first in which passing the test of 10th grade English and eighth grade math and algebra was required for graduation.
A group of students sued the state, claiming the test discriminates against low-income and minority students. On May 12, Alameda Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman invalidated the graduation requirement for 2006 graduates, saying California was ill equipped "to adequately prepare students to take the exam," especially in poor, underfunded areas of the state.
The high court's decision reversed that ruling but did not settle the uncertainty over whether about 47,000 students statewide will graduate as high schools plan their upcoming commencement ceremonies.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell planned an afternoon news conference.
The plaintiffs' lawyers were not immediately available for comment.
Freedman is an idiot!
Interesting.
Sanity breaks out again.
" More and more states are requiring students to pass a standardized test as a condition of getting a high school diploma, and the complaints are flying fast and thick. These tests are unfair, the grumblers grumble. They ask irrelevant questions, the fumers fume. They subvert regular lessons. They force educators to teach to the test. They aren't good yardsticks of what students really know. They're racist."
...
"Consider, for instance, what students in California's Central Valley Were once expected to know. Here are some questions from the history portion of the 1914 Kern County High School test. These were not multiple choice; students had to write short essays, not fill in a circle with a No. 2 pencil. (Some questions in this column have been condensed or edited for clarity.)
• Give an account of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
• Connect these names with US history: Captain Perry, Robert Fulton, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Lafayette, General Pickett.
• Give an account of the causes of the Civil War. Name four battles and the opposing generals in each.
• Tell all you can of the events of the McKinley Administration.
• Give a brief account of the construction of the Panama Canal.
• Explain the effects of the European War [the first phase of World War I] on the commerce of the US. On the revenue of the US. What remedies have been applied?
As kids are the same in every era, no doubt there were plenty in 1914 who resented having to master such "ridiculous" and "byzantine" details. What employer, some must have muttered, is ever going to ask me about the Panama Canal?"
...
"Are you amazed that high school graduates a century ago could handle questions like the ones in this column? Actually, they could handle far more. You see, the questions you've just read were all from tests to get into high school. They were tests, in other words, of what the educated 8th-grader was presumed to have mastered."
http://216.247.220.66/jacoby/2000/jj06-26-00.htm
Racism! Racism!
That's what I've heard. Nice to see it verified
Exit Exam is Back in California
And if you don't pass it you and your tax dollars will not be allowed to move out of state.
Thanks for the good news.
In California all money for education is distributed on an equal per student basis statewide, currently over 12K per student. There are no "poor, underfunded" areas. There are money grubbing unions and bureaucrats who make sure most of the money never sees the class room.
Does anyone have a list of reasons that attempts to justify what's happened?
Mind you, they don't have to be good reasons... or sane ones...
And further arguendo, if that were true, the typical poor and minority student would fail the test.
But the typical poor and minority student passes. All the screaming is because the failure rate among poor and minority students is higher than the failure rate among non-poor nonminority students.
You can't blame this on the schools. Too many of these so-called failing schools manage to educate too many kids to a passing grade on the tests.
That was my first thought. "Is this some requirement to leave the state?"
A group of students sued the state, claiming the test discriminates against low-income and minority students. ...
The harshest bigotry that exists is that of low expectations. This is really sad.
Freedman is an idiot. Saying that they were "ill-equipped to adequately prepare students to take the exam," just begs the question... what on earth were they doing for the 12 years they were in public school if not to prepare them to pass a couple of simple tests?
Tsk, do not disrupt their methods. How dare you suggest they don't know what they are doing! They know what they are doing, they've got decades of experience!
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