Brownley seeks to provide students a second chance
SACRAMENTO The approximately 24 percent of California students that failed the mandatory high school exit exam last year might have another means to obtain a diploma if they can’t pass the test again.
A legislative bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) would add evaluative methods through which high school students who fail the exit exam — required for graduation — could receive a diploma.
Assembly Bill 1379 would direct the state superintendent of public instruction, the state secretary of education and the exit examination standards panel to identify alternative measures for high school students to demonstrate their proficiency. The bill would supplement, not replace, the exam.
The bill passed in the Assembly on June 5 and could land on the Senate floor as early as today.
The Senate Appropriations Committee determined the bill could have a one-time cost of $300,000 for the work to identify the alternative measures, Brownley said.
Advocates celebrate the bill as giving students who don’t fare well in standardized examinations another opportunity to prove their competency in high school math and English language arts. Meanwhile, opponents argue that the exit exam is just one of many stops along the way to graduation, adding that students must also maintain a certain grade point average to move on.
“Having a multiple-measured approach really provides a richer and more rigorous standard than what we have now,” Brownley said last week. Brownley was a member of the Santa Monica-Malibu Board of Education prior to joining the state assembly last year, serving as president in her last term.
During her stint on the board, Brownley advocated for multiple assessments for students.
The California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) was made mandatory for graduation, beginning with the class of 2006. Students are tested, starting in the 10th grade, and take the exam until they pass.
Students in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District fared well in taking the exam in the 2006-07 school year, with 90 percent of the 10th graders passing, compared to 70 percent of 10th graders in Los Angeles County and 76 percent statewide, said Sally Chou, the district’s chief academic officer.
Those who fail the test can take CAH- SEE preparation classes after school and in the summer until they pass, Chou added.
The idea to add more measures to supplement CAHSEE was rejected last year by Jack O’Connell, the state superintendent of public instruction, who reported to the California Board of Education that the status quo should be maintained, said Roger Magyar, the board’s executive director.
“There is a whole set of other requirements that you have to satisfy in order to receive a diploma,” Magyar said, adding that students must pass three years of English and two years of math. “Some of the arguments made about the unfairness of the exit exam, I think, it overlooks the reality that the exit exam is not the only requirement. It’s one of many.”
Oscar de la Torre, the vice president for the Santa Monica-Malibu school board, supports the measure, believing it would expand opportunities for those students who fail to demonstrate their proficiency in a standardized test.
De la Torre added that he did not perform well on standardized tests, but still graduated with honors.
“We can’t have a one-size-fits-all and that is what we have now,” he said.
The district’s teachers’ union has yet to take a position on the bill, but it generally opposes “high stakes testing which are a snapshot in time,” said President Harry Keiley.
The Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teachers Association does not believe standardized tests like CAHSEE should be removed, but would like to see multiple forms of assessments adopted, including portfolios, Keiley added.
“I think there is far too much of an emphasis on standardized test scores right now and teaching and learning is far more than about test scores,” Keiley said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 30, 2007. Read the original PDF.