An Early Entrance Urged for Exit Exam

Fewer than one in four Santa Paula High School freshmen last year passed a test they’ll need to master before they can graduate in 2004, which has Supt. William Brand pushing state education officials to allow his and other poor-performing districts to keep testing ninth-graders.

A new law now prohibits students from taking the California High School Exit Exam until they reach 10th grade. California Department of Education officials wanted to obtain a “pure sample” of teenagers who have taken the test for the first time.

But Brand, along with a handful of superintendents across the state, said allowing districts to administer the exam to ninth-graders could make a big difference in a place like Santa Paula, where 35% of sophomores still struggle to speak English and more than half the students come from low-income homes.

“If I were superintendent of a high-achieving, affluent school district, I’m not going to worry about it,” Brand said. “But when you have kids coming in at risk, you need to have all of the opportunities available to them.”

The exit exam was taken voluntarily in March 2001 by 6,500 members of the class of 2004. Only 34% passed both sections.

This spring, those 10th-graders who either didn’t take the exam or didn’t pass both sections were required to take the exam.

The test results are expected to land in district offices and parents’ mailboxes within the next three weeks.

Beginning with this year’s sophomore class, all students--including those in special education classes and alternative programs--must pass the exit exam before they can earn a diploma, even if all other graduation requirements are met.

The language section of the test covers material students should learn by 10th grade.

The math section includes concepts taught through eighth grade, plus algebra, which is generally taken by the sophomore year.

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Weak Results for English Learners

In Ventura County, 73% of the freshmen who took the test in 2001 passed the language arts section, while only 53% passed math.

But among English learners, fewer than one-third passed in language and just 15% successfully completed the math section.

Similarly weak results were found among economically disadvantaged students.

At Delano Joint Union High School District in Kern County, where a high percentage of students live in poverty and struggle to speak English, more than 80% of students enter ninth grade below grade level, said Supt. Sherrill Hufnagel.

“Those students are already behind, so it’s going to be that much more difficult to pass,” she said.

Hufnagel can see a difference in attitude about the test among this year’s sophomores, all of whom were given the exit test last year, and the freshmen, many of whom are still oblivious to the seriousness of the high-stakes exam they’ll take next year.

“My feeling is, the sooner we expose the students to the issue that they need to pass the test, the better,” she said. “Students just aren’t going to take the test seriously unless they get a chance to look at it and, in their freshman year, know they are going to have to work hard to pass it.”

Brand stresses that allowing students to take the exam as ninth-graders gives officials one additional year to place those lagging behind in after-school and summer programs.

But not everyone agrees with that approach to raising the pass rate.

State education officials point out that sophomores will have seven additional chances to pass the exit exam after they take it for the first time, as well as one final opportunity the summer after their senior year.

Martha Tureen, an assistant superintendent in the low-performing Fillmore Unified School District, said she does not see the logic behind giving more assessments to students who are already heavily tested.

“If a kid is not prepared, testing him more times isn’t going to get him prepared,” Tureen said. “I’d rather spend the time on instruction.”

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State Needs Data Before Adjusting Test

Last year, about 78% of freshmen took the exam statewide. Those who didn’t had to do so this year, but that doesn’t leave the state with a full sample of students of the same age group taking the test for the first time. That full sample of sophomores won’t be available until 2003.

The resulting data are crucial because state officials are considering adjusting the levels for a passing score.

Right now, students must get 65% of questions correct to pass either section, but that could change, said Jan Chladek, manager of the high school exit exam office in Sacramento.

Such explanations do not satisfy local school leaders like Brand, who remains committed to fighting for students who seem to be consistently overlooked in the state’s push for more and more standardized tests.

“Everything I’ve heard from the state has to do with the validity of testing,” Brand said. “They have never once talked about what’s good for kids.”