California High School Exit Exam results in
Just over 90 percent of California's high school class of 2008 passed the state's exit exam, according to results released Tuesday by state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.
The seniors passed California's high school exit exam at a slightly lower rate than in the previous year. This year is the first year the test was widely administered to special-education students.
The previous year, 94 percent passed the two-part test of math and English by the same time.
"The California High School Exit Exam is an important tool to ensure that all students who get a diploma in California have at least a minimum level of skills in English language arts and math that are critical to success in the increasingly competitive global economy," O'Connell said. "I am very proud of all the students who have met the exit-exam requirement."
Linda Bardere, spokeswoman for San Bernardino City Unified School District, said the district continues to show improvement year after year, with more students passing the exam.
Jeff Ellingsen, director of assessment and research for Chaffey Joint Union High School District in Ontario said he was pleased to see numbers that showed improvement over last year and are above both the county and the state passing rates.
Students in the class of 2006 were the first to be required to pass the exam.
An estimated 3,589 students from the class of 2006 continued to take the test from July 2007 through May. Fewer than 900 of those students passed by May.
For the class of 2007, about 12,500 students continued to take the test one year after completing their senior year.
An estimated 3,267 students from the class of 2007 met the requirement by May.
Nearly 54 percent of special-education students in the class of 2008 met the requirement as of May.
In addition to special-education students, a lower percentage of blacks, Latinos and students learning English passed the exit exam than students who are white or Asian.
"The latest exit-exam results yet again illustrate the persistent achievement gap that leaves too many of our African-American and Latino students trailing behind their peers who are white or Asian," O'Connell said.
Students are required to take the exam for the first time in 10th grade. More than 493,000 sophomores took it during the 2007-08 school year.
Students who do not pass the test as 10th-graders are given two more opportunities as juniors, and if they are not successful then, five more opportunities as seniors.
Students who do not pass both portions of the exam by the end of their senior year can continue to take the exam until they pass.
- deborah.pfeiffer@inlandnewspapers.com
When will we hear the crying about the Tests not being fare?