CAHSEE: Pass rate dips as court ruling takes effect 

More than 90 percent of seniors in the class of 2008—but only 53.8 percent of all special education students tested—had passed the California High School Exit Exam by May, according to numbers released by the California Department of Education last month.

The passing rate for the class of 2008 is slightly lower than the 94 percent pass rate for the class of 2007, but the 2008 numbers include test results of students with disabilities, who this year for the first time were required to pass CAHSEE in order to graduate. The CAHSEE requirement took effect for mainstream students beginning with the class of 2006, but court challenges by advocates for students with disabilities delayed their requirement until this year.

In 2007, 57.2 percent of special education students earned high school diplomas. With the CAHSEE requirement for special education students now in effect, the graduation rate for these students dropped to 54.4 percent.

Advocates for students with disabilities, who argue that the CAHSEE has a disproportionately negative and unfair impact on special-needs students, sued in 2005 in an unsuccessful attempt to force the state to devise alternative assessments.

Lawmakers have also attempted to block the requirement, passing legislation this year that would suspend the requirement until 2011 and require the state to design alternative assessments. CSBA supports the legislation, Senate Bill 1446 by Los Angeles Democrat Gloria Romero, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill last year and has not indicated any inclination to sign this version.

Holly Jacobson, CSBA’s assistant executive director of Policy Analysis, said the association believes it is important to provide alternative assessments for students with special needs.

“We support rigor, but we also think that special education students should have flexibility to demonstrate mastery in a number of ways,” Jacobson said.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, who as a state lawmaker authored the 1999 legislation that established the exit exam requirement, said it will ultimately help special education students succeed.

“The California High School Exit Exam system is pushing our schools to ensure that more students who have disabilities are given maximum access to the general education curriculum and is pushing more students to reach for a higher bar of achievement," O'Connell said when he released this year’s figures. "We must work harder to help students who receive special education services prepare for and pass the exit exam.”

O’Connell also reiterated his concerns about the disparities in achievement levels between higher-performing white and Asian students and others. The CAHSEE pass rate in the class of 2008 was 95.8 percent for white students and 95.5 percent for Asian students. In comparison, for example, slightly more than 80 percent of African American students and 85.8 percent of Hispanic students in the class of 2008 have passed the exam.

Students have many chances to take the exam, beginning when they are in the 10th grade. The new numbers show students of color in the class of 2010 passed the English-language arts portion of the exam at higher rates than similar subgroups of first-time test takers in previous years—results that O’Connell said are encouraging.

“I am pleased to see a slight narrowing of the gap among first-time test takers,” O’Connell said, “but closing this gap entirely is the civil rights challenge of our time. It is a moral imperative and an economic imperative for our students and for our state economy.”

Related link:

 CDE’s announcement and data on the 2008 CAHSEE results are http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr08/yr08rel117.asp.