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January 06, 2006
Props Jack!
SCHOOLS CHIEF JACK O’CONNELL HOLDS FIRM ON HIGH SCHOOL EXIT EXAM; RECOMMENDS OPTIONS FOR STRUGGLING STUDENTS
Test Ensures Students Have Skills to Compete In Global Economy of the 21st Century
SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell today announced that he will work to expand options for students who have not successfully passed the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) by the end of their senior year in order to encourage them to continue their education in order to gain the necessary skills needed to pass the exam. O’Connell also announced that he will not recommend or support any alternative assessments to the current exit exam.
"After reviewing research and considering options for non-special education students, I have concluded that there is no practical alternative available that would ensure that all students awarded a high school diploma have mastered the subject areas tested by the exam and needed to compete in today’s global economy," O’Connell said. "I am convinced that the only way to make sure all of our graduates have the critical skills they need in adulthood is through requiring passage of the high school exit exam."
It should be noted that with respect to students with disabilities, the California Department of Education (CDE) had agreed to a settlement in the case of Chapman, et al v. the California Department of Education, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the State Board of Education. The lawsuit sought to delay the consequences of the CAHSEE for students with disabilities.
"I agreed to this settlement because we know that our standards-based education reforms take time to implement, particularly for students with disabilities," said O’Connell. "This settlement would provide a path for certain students with disabilities in the class of 2006 to receive a diploma, while giving our schools more time to provide them with the skills necessary to pass the CAHSEE. I will continue to fight to make this settlement law and firmly believe it will it be in place for the class of 2006."
O’Connell wrote the law creating the High School Exit Exam in 1999 to address the problem of schools across the state having widely disparate standards for what students were learning and what constituted graduation requirements. The High School Exit Exam is now one of the cornerstones of California’s education accountability system. The consequences of not passing the exam take effect for the first time with the graduating class of 2006.
"I wanted to ensure that no child could fall between the cracks and be sent into the world, diploma in hand, lacking the skills and knowledge necessary for meaningful work or college," O’Connell said. "I believed that the Exit Exam would challenge the system and raise expectations and results for California students. Our schools are now focused on teaching California’s world-class academic standards, and students are meeting higher expectations as a result of the exam."
Since its inception, the CAHSEE has been thoroughly reviewed and updated. The exam has been studied annually by an independent evaluator, the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO). HumRRO has confirmed that the test is a valid and reliable indicator of student knowledge in mathematics and English-language arts and that the test brings needed consistency across the nearly 1,000 districts in California. In it’s most recent report, released last fall, HumRRO recommended to keep the CAHSEE requirement in place for the class of 2006 and beyond. HumRRO also recommended the consideration of alternatives and/or options for those students who may be unable to pass the CAHSEE by June 2006.
"To be clear, this does not mean, as some have said, that those students who have been unable to pass the exam will be denied a diploma indefinitely," said O’Connell. "It simply means that their basic education is not complete and they must continue on through our K-12 system, adult education, or community colleges to obtain the necessary skills to warrant receipt of a diploma."
At O’Connell’s direction, CDE staff examined exit exam models throughout the country and considered all possible alternatives and options.
"We face a new economy driven by global innovation that will demand higher-level skills and knowledge to meaningfully enter the work force," O’Connell said. "It is imperative that all of California’s children reach at least the minimal bar set by our exit exam. Our education system must ensure that every student who has satisfied local graduation requirements, but has been unable to pass the exit exam, be given the opportunity to continue their education in order to obtain the necessary skills they will need to succeed. I am committed to breaking down any possible barriers in order to guarantee that every child who wants to continue his or her education will find a place to do so in California’s education system."
O’Connell announced that he will work with the Legislature to lift enrollment caps and increase funding for adult education programs, summer school, and independent study programs. He called for eligibility for Cal Grants to students who meet all other high school graduation and grade point average requirements, but have not passed the CAHSEE.
For more information, please visit California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) - Testing.
Comments
Jerre:
I think I would care if I found out my district's schools ranked last in the state? Are you saying that curriculum and content standards should be decided only by local school boards?
Scott
Posted by: Scott Blough at January 9, 2006 03:42 PMAbsolutely! School Boards are made up of persons elected by the local populace and therefore the Board will create standards important to the local citizens. I don't care what they are teaching in San Francisco. If I did, I'd live there. I care about what's being taught right here, right now.
Posted by: Jerre Reimers at January 9, 2006 04:17 PMJerre:
I'm not coming out and saying I disagree with you, but shouldn't kids in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Humboldt, or any other district be learning the same things at the same times.
Is it acceptable to you that a tenth grader in one district already is far advanced in Math because one district decided to implement the certain math curriculum earlier while another district decided to spend all it's money on sports?
Wouldn't leaving curriculum up to politicians just create gross differences in education quality?
Before you get fired up, I'm more interested in the reasoning your using than who is right.
When you say local control, what specifically do you want the state of California to relinquish to local school districts?
Scott
Posted by: Scott Blough at January 9, 2006 09:27 PMI just don’t see why kids need to pass a test to graduate from high school. It puts too much pressure on them to have to pass a single test to graduate. The basic curriculum is defined by the state. If the kids take and pass all the classes required, then why the need for a test? We’ve never required a test to graduate before, what has changed to make it necessary now? The local curriculum should be the result of collaboration among the board of education, the school administrators, the teachers and the parents.
Posted by: Jerre Reimers at January 10, 2006 10:46 AMState Board or Local Board of Education?
Posted by: Scott Blough at January 10, 2006 11:00 AMTHe local board of ed, based upon minimum state requirements.
Posted by: Jerre Reimers at January 11, 2006 07:52 AMJerre,
I agree local input is important, but doesn't testing ensure we know the progress of the students and will enable us to better target teaching resources to improve test scores?
Scott
Posted by: Scott Blough at January 11, 2006 11:19 AMIt seems both the left and right agree on testing. For instance the NEA supports testing and the republican supported NCLB also supports testing.
Are you saying all these people are wrong? Or are you just saying the high school exit exam needs to be elminated?
Scott
Posted by: Scott Blough at January 11, 2006 11:21 AMHello:
This is from the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning...
"CFTL REPORT EXAMINES CALIFORNIA'S EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning's (CFTL) Teaching and California's Future report provides an overview of California's educational system and identifies teacher workforce as a primary concern. The authors assert that for over a decade, Californians have had to face the stark contradiction of being both the nation's technological and economic powerhouse, while falling behind in educational achievement.
According to the report, in 2002 the state's high school graduation rates stood at 71 percent, with the graduation rates for minority students lagging behind: 57 percent for African- Americans and 60 percent for Latinos. The authors note that policymakers have most notably responded to California's educational challenges through the establishment of new accountability systems better known as the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) and performance indicators derived from the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Yet even with these new standards, budget cuts in the educational field are engendering setbacks for teacher development programs, per the report.
Immediate policy intervention is necessary, the report argues, due to two main factors: predicted teacher shortage as a result baby-boomer retirement from the teaching workforce, and lack of investment in education.
For policy-related, economic, and demographic reasons, California is faced with the arduous task of backfilling the gap between fully credentialed teacher requirements and teachers who have not met the state's minimum qualifications to teach.
Specifically, in California it is required that every teacher be prepared to teach English Learners (ELs), yet in 2004-05, 48 percent of fully credentialed teachers had no EL authorization.
Furthermore, not only are the students in these classrooms not being effectively trained, but underprepared, unqualified teachers are being unevenly distributed within the state.
According to the report, California's lowest-performing schools continue to have the least prepared teaching staffs and are most in need of highly qualified and experienced teachers. This notion is supported by data from 2004-05 showing that one out of every five teachers (21 percent) in the lowest achieving schools were underprepared and/or inexperienced, while only one in ten teachers (11 percent) in the highest achieving schools were unqualified, according to the report.
The authors conclude that opportunities exist for California to take decisive action in search of a highly skilled teacher workforce for every child in the state. The Center for the Future of Teaching proposes that the legislature and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger take three direct steps to improving California's educational system. First, California needs to ensure that every teacher who instructs a body of students has thorough knowledge of the subject matter being taught and that they possess the skills required to teach all students.
Secondly, all students need to have the assurance that their teacher is fully prepared, experienced, and appropriately assigned to the subject that they are teaching. The last action that needs to take place is to ensure that policymakers have a data system that allows adequate monitoring of state efforts to provide access to fully prepared and experienced teachers."
Sorry, folks. I had lithotripsy performed on Thursday for a kidney stone and I haven't been up to blogging.
In answer to Scott's question before, the kids are already tested on each subject multiple times in each class. That's more than sufficient. And the bottom line is that if kids don't pass the exit exam, it will be the teachers' fault. Parents don't support teachers anymore. If the kids don't get good grades, it because the teacher didn't teach well. You should hear some of the stories from the teachers. Which is not to say that every teacher is great, or even good. Teachers cannot be let go for inadequate teaching in public schools. But, by and large, students "earn" the grades that they receive and parents won't recognize that.
Hence, testing is wasted.
Posted by: Jerre Reimers at January 15, 2006 03:03 PMi just want to tell all the students and parents who disagress with the exit exam that the CAHSEE is here to determine wheather the seniors are ready for life after high school. Nobody may not be there to help them while applying for a job that requires a basic math knowledge or perfect english vocabulary. im a senior at the moment and sadly i have not passed the math portion of the CAHSEE, i do agree that the CAHSEE is some how helping us but then again destroying us. for the first time i took the CAHSEE when i was in th 10th grade, i know i didnt do my best but as the years gone by i really tried. since being in school i have always been a terrible test taker and math is the worst subject for me. for those who are reading this, the CAHSEE has really brought down my motivation and positive attitude. as in right now next week will be the last time i will find out wheather i graduate with my classmates or go the summer school with embarrassment. alot of my friends this school year dropped out of high just because they have not passed it. hopefully i will passed it!
well im here again and as you read above i have a few mistakes with my vocabulary which is not good.
Posted by: Angel Hamilton at May 8, 2006 08:02 PM
There really is no reason to have a state-wide high school exit exam. The local school district is in the best position to determine what students should learn, based upon local citizens’ input. Do parents in Ventura County really care about how their kids compare to those in Humbolt County? I don’t think so. So, the local school board should set the schedule of classes needed to graduate from high school.
Posted by: Jerre Reimers at January 9, 2006 08:20 AM