A Test for Lawmakers Too

California should learn a lesson from Texas and other states that require students to pass a graduation exam to receive a high school diploma. California’s new exit exam, going fully into effect when this year’s freshmen graduate in 2004, is sure to be challenged in court. It would stand up better there if the state Legislature approved a bill, supported by Gov. Gray Davis, that would make this year’s test purely a practice run.

The bill, SB 84, by state Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo), is scheduled for reconsideration by the Legislature today, just two days before ninth-graders are to take the test for the first time. The urgency measure requires a two-thirds vote--ayes from all 25 Senate Democrats and at least two Republicans.

GOP senators blocked the bill last week on the grounds that holding students accountable is long overdue. They have a valid point, but if the test scheduled for Wednesday is not made a practice test, lawsuits and trials could postpone implementation for years. A shorter delay would give the state time to get it right.

The current law would allow this year’s ninth-graders to take the test voluntarily. The exam would count in that if they passed they wouldn’t have to take it again in later years. The passing score would be based on the results of those who participate. Because not all ninth-graders would be required to take the test, statewide scores could be skewed; for example, if a big percentage of high achievers took it or if the sample did not otherwise reflect a cross section of enrollment. That would provide grounds for a suit. Testing experts have advised the state that the exam could better withstand a legal challenge if all 10th-graders take the test next year and a passing score is based on that entire grade.

If the Republican senators who voted against the bill Thursday doubt the need for the proposed changes, they should look to the experience of Texas. There, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund charged that the exam was discriminatory, since three out of four of the nearly 100,000 students denied diplomas during the first decade of testing were black or Latino. A federal judge, however, found no evidence of bias. Bias might be a problem for California if the passing score is based on a group that might be deemed unrepresentative.

The judge also wrote that Texas had shown that the test is educationally necessary and “results of the test are used, in many cases quite effectively, to motivate not only students, but schools and teachers to raise and meet educational standards.” The achievement gap between minority and white students is narrowing dramatically in Texas as the pass rate on the graduation test has risen to an estimated 98% of all high school seniors. That is exactly the outcome California seeks.

If a trial run is conducted this year, with the results not used to determine the granting of diplomas, the graduation bar can be raised eventually, and raised fairly.