Failing the the California High School Exit Exam
Laurel Rosenhall:
So far, more than 90,000 students - about 22 percent of the senior class - have not passed the exit exam, which tests students on sixth-, seventh-and eighth-grade math skills and reading and writing at the 10th-grade level. Students must pass both parts to graduate.
Gary Hart, a former state senator and Gray Davis' first education secretary, said he opposes the use of portfolios or tests in languages other than English.
But he said other standardized exams, such as the SAT, AP, UC and CSU placement tests and the 11th-grade California Standards Test, would be acceptable - even though only a fraction of students now failing the exit exam likely would pass such tests.
"Our purpose should not be to accommodate marginally proficient students," Hart said.
Jim Lanich, president of California Business for Education Excellence, urged officials not to change the current requirement.
"It's important to the business community that the folks they hire - the people who graduate from the 12th grade - are able to do seventh-grade math," he said.
The meeting reached its most emotional point when parents and students confronted officials about their families' struggles.
Rebecca Serafin, who lives near San Jose, said she has made arrangements for her daughter, a special education student, to move to another state for her final semester of high school in order to get a diploma. Her daughter has passed one section of the test but not the other.
"Now we're here in the ninth inning and parents and students have to make very tough decisions," Serafin said.
Madai Alarcon Robles, a 17-year-old senior at Pathways Charter High School in San Jose, spoke of the difficulty the exam poses for students learning English. "I been here for 10 years," she said. "I have to work. I can speak English, but I can't understand all the English. I have a hard time spelling."
Robles said she supports younger siblings still in Mexico. She said she left them behind to find a better future. "Now, because of this exam, I'm not going to get it," Robles said.
California High School Diversity
Exit exams are big worry
posted by Adam Lawson @ 5:14 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
["Now, because of this exam, I'm not going to get it," Robles said.]
How stupid is this person, anyway? Could she really believe this laughably dumbed down test ("which tests students on sixth-, seventh-and eighth-grade math skills and reading and writing at the 10th-grade level") is the reason she won't have a "better future"? As opposed to her own lack of knowledge and ability to function in (elementary) English, which is the language of the land in the US. If she cannot (after ten years!) function well enough in English to pass this relatively simple test, what real hope for a "better future" here does she, or did she ever, really have?
If not for the terrible impact on America of literally millions of such students (and later adults) this story would be funny.
And of course when these idiots can't get into college or get a good job they will start demanding more affirmative action programs to make up for all the "racism" that they have experienced in their lives. When I read news like this it makes me think we would be better off with a minefield at the border instead of a fence.
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