High School Exit Exams Are Racist

We have entered an era in which catchy punitive sound bites have replaced thoughtful public policy efforts to solve social problems.

Gov. Gray Davis’ proposal to subject high school students to an exit exam before they can claim their diplomas is a prime example of this trend. The proposal sends a clear message to students: We haven’t fixed the schools, but we are going to make that your failure, not ours.

Forget context. Forget the fact that 40 other states spend more per student than California. Ignore the reality that 20% of California students have a first language other than English, and that, in a nativist fit, we have all but outlawed bilingual education. Never mind that the schools, reflecting patterns of housing segregation, continue to be racially segregated, and that the least experienced teachers end up teaching the most disadvantaged students. And disregard the effects of the already questionable practice of “ability group” tracking, again based on tests, which tends to exclude black and Latino students from the intellectually challenging, college-bound classes.

Given these inequities, the last thing we need is a test that only will prove the obvious: Most students of color get an education that doesn’t measure up to that received by most white students.

Exit exams take the irrational logic of personal responsibility and apply it to schools. Students can work hard, receive passing grades, meet their graduation requirements--and still be denied their diploma.

It’s not as if we can’t predict the effect these exams will have on students. Florida and Texas have already been sued for the racial bias of their exit exam system, and racial impact isn’t the only issue. In Texas, for example, where 85% of students who fail to pass the final administration of the test are Mexican American and African American, teachers are now “teaching to the test” instead of fostering critical thinking skills or helping students to gain substantive knowledge.

While politicians in Texas and Florida may claim that they were unaware of the potential negative racial impact of exit exams, California lawmakers have no excuse. We have the data and we know the potential negative consequences of the exit exam proposal. At this stage, advocating a policy that has been shown to enhance patterns of institutional racism is, in itself, a racist act.

Davis is not alone in his translation of “educational excellence” and “accountability” into the quick fix of an exit exam. Despite the findings of the National Governors’ Assn. that “more rigorous assessments will likely produce higher failure rates, particularly among educationally disadvantaged students, 26 states have jumped on the exit exam bandwagon. And why not? Fixing public education presents both Democrats and Republicans with the same opportunity that crime policy afforded them in the late 1980s--big publicity for programs with little substance. Lots of room for “get-tough,” “take no prisoners” and “zero tolerance” posturing.

Davis needs to stop pointing his finger at California students and concentrate on developing effective systemic reforms. A first step would be to refine funding mechanisms so that urban school districts that have greater per capita expenses than suburban districts are not forced to operate at a fiscal disadvantage. Other concrete changes could include increasing the number and skills of teachers of color, integrating linguistic and cultural education into the curriculum, and replacing the charades of high-stakes testing and tracking with real opportunity for all students to have the option of taking advanced and intellectually stimulating classes.

If we are really serious about educational excellence, let’s respond programmatically instead of punitively.