O’Connell hangs tough on exit exam requirement
Published: February 1, 2006
Saying he preferred to expand the options available to students who have not yet passed the state’s high school exit exam, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell has rejected calls to permit students to pass alternative assessments in order to earn a diploma.
“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 at a Jan. 6 press conference.
O’Connell said students will be better served by getting intensive remedial support so they can pass the exam, adding that he will seek legislation to establish and fund a number of academic programs for struggling students.
“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.”
O’Connell’s decision to reject any alternatives to CAHSEE came less than a month after a daylong hearing on the issue, during which the vast majority of those who spoke testified about the need to permit some students to demonstrate competency using performance measures like senior projects or portfolios of outstanding student work.
O’Connell said he is working with lawmakers and “will submit legislation shortly” to enact a number of new programs to help students pass the exam. In addition to loosening eligibility for Cal Grants so students who meet high school course requirements but fail the test can still apply for financial help with college, O’Connell’s strategies include: lifting the cap on adult education enrollment and increasing funding, ensuring access to summer school for students who finish high school without passing CAHSEE, and giving students a chance to take the test over the summer.
Public policy consultant Jo Behn, a former president of the Learning Disabilities Association of California, was among those who urged the state not to rely on a single test to determine whether a student can earn a diploma.
She says the exit exam requirement indicates a “callous willingness of education top brass to punish students with life-limiting, irreparable consequences.”
She and other advocates for disabled and disadvantaged students say they will soon be in court to challenge O’Connell’s decision.
“There should be no California courtroom left behind if this cruel testing policy is not overturned,” she wrote in a recent newspaper column that invited readers to contact her for “the latest on two class-action lawsuits now underway.”
Other advocates for ethnic minority and disadvantaged students, like representatives of EdTrust, applauded the decision.
“Superintendent Jack O’Connell did the right thing by holding the line on the California High School Exit Exam, and declaring that there are no acceptable alternatives,” said EdTrust West Director Russlynn Ali, a passionate defender of high-stakes testing and rigorous academic standards.
“The push towards alternatives might seem compassionate,” she said. “But staying the course on high school standards represents the truly compassionate path.”
Disabled students in the class of 2006 are still in limbo. O’Connell and state Education Secretary Alan Bersin have announced their support for emergency legislation that would give certain special education students a one-year reprieve from the exit exam requirement. Senate Bill 517 by Los Angeles Democrat Gloria Romero would exempt disabled students in the class of 2006 from the exit exam requirement, enacting the settlement of a lawsuit filed against the state on behalf of these students last year.