Judge Moves to Block High School Exit Exam

An Oakland judge issued a surprise, tentative ruling Monday evening indicating he was likely to grant an injunction against California’s controversial high school exit exam, which students must pass to graduate.

If Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert B. Freedman finalizes the order at a hearing in Oakland today, he would rekindle hope for many of the roughly 46,000 seniors statewide who have failed to pass the two-part test and reignite the debate over the wisdom of the exam.

It is rare for judges to reverse themselves after making a tentative ruling.

“This would be historic,” said Arturo Gonzalez, the San Francisco attorney who filed a lawsuit seeking the injunction on behalf of a group of students and parents.

Gonzalez and other critics have argued that poor and minority students in low-performing schools are at a disadvantage when it comes to passing the exam because of sub-par teachers and resources.

“The judge is saying, ‘If the state is going to deprive a student of a diploma based on a single test, then they must ensure that every student has an equal chance to prepare for it,’ ” Gonzalez said.

In the ruling, Freedman said he was “inclined to issue a preliminary injunction” that would bar school districts from denying diplomas to students who have completed all graduation requirements other than the exam.

Marsha Bedwell, chief counsel for the California Department of Education, held out hope that Freedman would change his mind.

“There is going to be an argument and he could be persuaded,” she said.

Bedwell said her staff would appeal if Freedman follows through on his ruling. It remains uncertain, however, whether an appeals court would be able to rule before diplomas are awarded in coming months.

This year’s 12th-graders are the first class to face the testing requirement, which includes a section of eighth-grade-level math and another of ninth- and 10th-grade-level English. Students can take the test multiple times and are required to answer little more than half of the questions correctly.

About one of every 10 seniors in California has yet to pass one or both parts of the exam and are at risk of not graduating, according to figures released by the state last week. Those numbers did not include students who took the exam in March. And students planning to try a final time this week will not learn if they pass until after graduation ceremonies.

In the Los Angeles Unified School District, 5,280 seniors -- nearly 18% of the class -- must still pass the exam.

Originally slated for students in the class of 2004, the test was postponed for two years because of low passing rates. Then, in January, state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell rejected calls from civil rights groups and others to consider alternatives to the test.

O’Connell, who as a state senator wrote the law creating the test, reacted quickly Monday, defending the exam as an important gauge of student achievement.

The test “is a cornerstone of California’s school accountability system,” he said in a prepared statement. “I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that at the end of the legal day we maintain the integrity of the high school exit exam.”

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger echoed the superintendent. “The purpose of the exit exam is to ensure that our schools are meeting their obligation to our students by providing them with the most basic skills they will need in life,” Schwarzenegger said. “Delaying the exam’s implementation does a disservice to our children.”

Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, the only minority member of the Los Angeles Board of Education, who often voices concern about inequalities in the district, expressed mixed feelings about the sudden turn of events.

“I want the test, I want standards,” she said. “But I want the playing field to be level. My concern is that there are schools where students haven’t had a fair chance.”

Nationwide, about two dozen other states require an exit exam, although many offer alternatives for students who don’t pass.

Next week, Freedman will hear arguments in a similar lawsuit. Filed last month, it alleges that the state Board of Education and O’Connell reviewed exam alternatives too late for lawmakers to meaningfully consider them.

*

Times staff writer Hemmy So contributed to this report.