The ABCs of the State Exit Exam

Here’s the dilemma: You’re a parent or a concerned citizen and you’ve heard that the latest results from the California exit exam came out Tuesday. You don’t know what that means. And you’re afraid that your ignorance could put your own high school diploma at risk.

Fear not. And read on.

Question: What is this test and why does it matter?

Answer: Starting with the class of 2006, all public high school students must pass the California High School Exit Examination, as well as complete their other academic requirements, to get a diploma. Seniors have to pass both an English section and a math section. Wonks and educators insist on calling the test by the acronym CAHSEE, pronounced “Casey,” as in the poem “Casey at the Bat.”

Q: What’s the news here?

A: More students are passing the exam, and more quickly, especially in the Los Angeles Unified School District, but minorities and English learners continue to fare worse and L.A. Unified continues to trail the state. These results mirror other data about the city school system: The overall picture is of an improving district, but one that critics contend is not improving quickly enough. Statewide, about 9% of seniors didn’t pass. In L.A. Unified the number was 14%.

Q: How hard is this test?

A: The English portion is set at 10th-grade state standards. The math portion consists of seventh- and eighth-grade computation skills as well as basic algebra. Some students take algebra as early as seventh grade. Others wait until their senior year. Passing a course in algebra became a graduation requirement in 2004. Most L.A. Unified students take algebra in eighth grade.

Q: What happens if a student fails the test?

A: Students first take the test in 10th grade and have multiple chances every year after that. Seniors who didn’t pass in May 2006 didn’t get a diploma at regular graduation ceremonies. Some school districts, including L.A. Unified, gave them a “certificate of completion” if they fulfilled all other requirements.

Q: What are the consequences of not graduating?

A: High school graduates get better jobs and earn substantially more money than people who don’t graduate. Aspiring graduates can continue to take the exit exam indefinitely, even after high school. The material is covered in courses at adult schools and community colleges.

Q: Why do critics take issue with the test?

A: The essential argument is that the test is unfair as long as there are inferior schools with inferior teachers. The state has funded remedial help, but this money didn’t reach every school with a senior who failed the test. Three separate lawsuits are challenging the test on various grounds.

The state contends that the exit exam process has forced schools to improve and that a diploma, to have real value, has to represent a basic standard of academic accomplishment. Funding for remedial help has increased substantially this year.

Q: OK, I’ve made it this far, so give me some data.

A: The pretty good news: In 2004, 62% of L.A. Unified 10th-graders passed the English portion. That number rose to 67% this year. The statewide number has hovered near 75%. On math, L.A. Unified rose from 58% to 62% over the same period, while the state rose from 74% to 77%. The 10th-grade results are key, because many students in the class of 2006 who didn’t pass the first time still haven’t passed.

The mixed bag: L.A.’s subgroups are getting better too, and they mirror the state. That is, African Americans and Latinos in L.A. Unified are performing comparably with students of these ethnicities elsewhere in the state -- almost. The latest 10th-grade pass rate on the reading test for Latinos in L.A. Unified is 63%. For the state it’s 66%. On math it’s 58% for Latinos in L.A. Unified; 65% for the state.

The bad: The achievement gap separating whites and the prosperous from the poor and minorities is as wide as ever.

Q: How are future classes doing?

A: The state doesn’t yet have numbers on how many class of 2007 members have not passed both parts of the test. But in L.A. Unified, 71% of the class of 2007 and 52% of the class of 2008 have passed both portions. Both percentages are ahead of the pace set by the class of 2006.

Q: Give me a quirky but possibly meaningful fact.

A: In L.A. Unified’s class of 2006, about 1,400 seniors didn’t graduate on time only because they flunked the exit exam. But nearly twice as many, 2,700, passed the exam but didn’t graduate because they failed to fulfill other requirements.

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Sources: California Department of Education; Los Angeles Unified School District; critics of the exit exam.