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High School Students Score Well On Exit Exam; Ethnic Gaps Persist

Last Updated:
08-15-05 at 2:41PM

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Nearly 90 percent of California's high school seniors, the first class required to prove their proficiency on a test before getting a diploma, have passed the state's exit exam, state education officials said Monday.

"I knew that our students could rise to the challenge of higher expectation, and I am proud of the rate of student success thus far on the exam," Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said in a statement.

An estimated 88 percent of incoming seniors have passed the English and math portions of the California High School Exit Exam. Students who have not passed the test will have three more chances during their senior year.

State education officials announced the results as they released separate scores for statewide standardized tests. Those results showed improvement by the public schools but continuing gaps in the performance of ethnic groups.

The high school exit exam results showed black, Hispanic, low-income and special education students with lagging passing rates. An estimated 75 percent of black students have passed the math test by the 11th grade, while 81 percent have passed English test.

Only about half of special education students in the class of 2006 have passed the math test, while 54 percent have passed the English test.

O'Connell said he was troubled by the disparities.

"I expect our high schools to focus on those student who are in danger of not mastering the skills measured by this exam," he said. "I urge them to take it seriously."

Local school districts can decide whether to allow students who haven't passed the test to participate in graduation ceremonies, said Hilary McLean, California Department of Education spokeswoman. But they won't be considered graduates by the state, she said.

Some legislators have been critical of the program and said students who fail to pass the exam should be given an alternate means to prove their proficiency.

In June, the state Assembly approved a bill that would allow high schools to determine if students qualify for graduation by using assessments other than the exit exam. Such programs would require approval form the state school superintendent.

The bill's author, Assemblywoman Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment on the exit exam results released Monday.

Meanwhile, results from the California Standardized Testing and Reporting program, which tests 4.8 million students in grades 2-11, showed improvement while revealing persistent achievement gaps.

The tests are scored on a five-level system - advanced, proficient, basic, below basic and far below basic. The state goal is for every student to achieve at the proficient or advanced level.

More students reached those levels than last school year on the math, English, history and science tests. Still, on each of those tests more than half the students have not reached proficiency.

Schools made little or no progress in eliminating the achievement gap between white and Hispanic and black students, the results show.

A 31-point difference remained between the percentage of white and black students scoring proficient or above on the English exam; the difference is 28 points on the math exam. A similar gap persists between white and Hispanic students.

Only one-quarter of Hispanic students reached proficiency on the English test. Of all ethnic groups, Asian students had the best rate of proficiency on both the math and English tests.

O'Connell said the disparity in academic achievement "remains unacceptably wide."

While black and Hispanic students have gained in test scores, he said, "We must seek extraordinary progress for those students in order to close the achievement gap that persists for all groups."

The STAR program includes test results from the California standards tests, a national standardized test and the California Achievement Tests, all of which measure skills in reading, language, spelling and math.

The STAR results also are used to calculate how well the state is meeting the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Under the federal law, states must ensure all students are proficient in reading and math by the 2013-2104 year.

Schools must show yearly progress and include English-language learners and special education students. That measurement, called Adequate Yearly Progress, is scheduled to be released at the end of August.