Senate Rejects Bid to Make Exit Test a Practice Exam

Ninth-graders who take the state’s first high school graduation test today will be taking it for real.

This week, the state Senate for the second time rejected Gov. Gray Davis’ proposal to make the test a practice exam for ninth-graders this year. Most Republicans refused to vote for the bill, saying that they did not want to weaken the test.

The Democratic governor asked for the bill because he says the high-stakes graduation test will be better able to withstand legal challenges if all 10th-graders are required to take the test a year from now.

Today’s ninth-graders, the class of 2004, are the first who must pass the test before they can graduate. Ninth-graders who volunteer can take the test in reading and writing today and in math on Tuesday.

The bill’s failure means that students who take the test this month and do well will not have to take it again. The state has not yet established a passing score for the test.