Walk/Don’t Walk: The class of 2006 gets mixed signals on the exit exam
By:
Carol Brydolf
It’s just a few months before the end of the school year and the jury’s still out on the fate of many members of the class of 2006: the first students required by state law to pass the California High School Exit Exam in order to receive a diploma.
It’s impossible to say at this point how many of the 100,000 seniors who had not yet passed the exam when they began school last fall will have done so in time to get their diplomas.
State education officials say they do not know how many students who failed the exam will instead receive certificates of completion, attendance, participation or achievement for meeting local graduation requirements. Nor do they know how many of these students will be allowed to walk across the stage on commencement day with their more academically successful classmates. The mechanics of graduation ceremonies, including who walks and who doesn’t, are local decisions made by the local school board.
Seniors who are making a last-ditch effort to pass the exam before the end of the school year by taking it in May will be in limbo come June, since most probably won’t get their test results by graduation day. (Only students who have not had three chances to pass the test during their senior year are eligible for this May test administration.)
Some school districts and county offices of education are considering holding special summer graduation ceremonies to award diplomas to these students. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell is seeking funding for a special summer 2006 CAHSEE administration.
Uncertainties remain
It’s also not clear what will happen to special education students who fail the test. In response to a lawsuit filed last year on behalf of special education students, state lawmakers approved emergency legislation that exempts certain special education students in the class of 2006 from the exit exam requirement. The one-year exemption signed into law Jan. 30 applies only to students with disabilities who had an Individualized Education Program as of July 1, 2005 and who have completed or are on track to complete all other state and local graduation requirements by graduation day. They must have taken the exit exam at least twice after 10th grade (with any accommodations or modifications specified in their IEP), including once during their senior year. They must have received remediation or supplemental instruction if available to them.
In a different category are special education students who take the exam with modifications and pass. The state classifies these students as having failed the test, but districts can grant waivers and award them diplomas. (For the class of 2006, there may be considerable confusion over how to process these students, since many of them may also qualify for an exemption from the exam.)
No one knows how many students who do not receive diplomas in 2006 will be enrolling in remedial summer sessions, adult education, community college or a fifth year of high school, or even which programs will be approved and funded as part of the budget and legislative cycle for 2006.
Funding in flux
The governor has recommended that school districts and county offices of education receive an additional $20 million for remediation grants this year; if approved as part of the final budget, that would double the amount of money for these grants and provide $600 per student for some 67,000 students.
The new funds, though welcome, would still fall far short of the need. Nearly 100,000 members of the class of 2006 had yet to pass the exam at the beginning of this, their senior year. Last year, the only districts eligible to apply for state remediation funds were those with low pass rates on the exit exam (districts where 29 percent or more of eligible students failed the test). Students in districts with higher passing rates are out of luck as are small districts, where $600 a head for a handful of students won’t go very far.
Advocates for students who failed the test filed suit Feb. 8 in San Francisco Superior Court, arguing, among other things, that the lack of remedial funding is one factor that makes it impossible for certain students to get a fair chance to pass the CAHSEE exam.
A confusing transition
All this uncertainty, of course, has been extremely hard on students, parents and teachers. From a policy perspective, it’s also a huge challenge for district school boards and county boards of education.
“The constant changes in deadlines and rules have made things very difficult for everyone,” says Luan B. Rivera, President of the California School Boards Association. “It’s not just about school boards and policy, it’s about real children and the uncertainty they face.”
After tracing the convoluted legislative and legal history of California’s exit exam law, a new report by the nonpartisan EdSource summed up the dilemma faced by many school boards with this understatement: “Thus, 2006 begins without clear direction for local school districts on this issue.”
But even during this confusing transitional time, school boards across the state are finding creative ways to honor stellar students, recognize accomplishments of hard-working students who have not been able to pass the exam despite their best efforts, and to encourage students not to give up on school, even if they are disappointed on this particular graduation day.
Although the exit exam is a state mandate, the law does give local district and county boards considerable discretion over the mechanics of graduation. Districts and county offices decide whether to recognize students who cannot yet pass the test but do meet local standards and whether to award waivers to special education students who pass the test but require modifications to do so.
Should students walk?
It’s up to school trustees to decide whether to award certificates of attendance, completion, participation or achievement to students who don’t pass the exam but satisfy local coursework requirements. The question of whether to permit these students to walk across the stage with their classmates or attend other special events usually reserved for graduating seniors is also a local one. Many boards find themselves caught between pleas from advocates of high-stakes testing who’d like graduation to be reserved for students who pass the test, and parents who are begging them to soften the blow when it comes to kids who are still struggling.
Although many districts have already opted to award certificates of completion and to let students participate in graduation activities, some districts are hanging tough. In Santa Ana Unified, for example, where an estimated 31 percent of 2,800 seniors haven’t yet passed the test, school board members have decided not to offer certificates of completion. Nearby Anaheim has also decided against such certificates.
In New Haven Unified School District, trustees have not yet decided whether to let students walk across the stage if they haven’t passed the CAHSEE or — if these students are allowed to participate in graduation — what they would receive in lieu of a diploma. School board member Gwen Estes, a classroom teacher and CSBA Director-at-Large, Black, says she personally opposes awarding certificates of completion or letting those who are not eligible for diplomas to walk across the stage.
“To be consistent with the state mandates and our current board policy, it doesn’t make sense to just let every student who has finished the coursework to walk across the stage,” says Estes. “This is an eighth-grade math test and a 10th-grade English test. We already require students to maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0 in order to receive a diploma and participate in graduation. If we were to let all students walk based on completion of coursework, whether they have passed the exit exam or not, we might as well let those students with D-minus averages participate, too. After all, anything above an F is passing.”
In San Diego County, superintendents got together to study all options and, ideally, to agree on a unified policy. That didn’t happen. Using the August 2005 CSBA exit exam advisory for guidance, the group instead compiled a list of possible options for districts to consider. These included: awarding certificates of completion for those who meet local requirements but don’t pass both parts of the exam; issuing technical or program completion certificates for students who finish specific district programs; and acknowledging students who earn diplomas from adult school or community college at high school commencement. For the class of 2006, says Fallbrook Union High School Superintendent Tom Anthony, who chairs the superintendents’ group, districts may also want to consider holding late-summer ceremonies after the May CAHSEE results are in.
Students who fail the CAHSEE can opt to bypass traditional high school graduation and take a General Educational Development (GED) test or the California High School Proficiency Exam. They can enroll in one of the few community college programs in the state that award high school diplomas or enroll in community college and pursue an associate degree without receiving any type of high school diploma.
Weighing in on waivers
Local districts and county boards are also responsible for deciding whether to grant waivers so special education students who have met local graduation requirements can receive diplomas if they have passed the CAHSEE with modifications, when such modifications are specified in their Individualized Education Programs.
Amador County Unified Superintendent Mike Carey says he knows of at least one stellar, learning-disabled student in his district, a 2006 senior, who has not yet passed the exit exam. Carey was among the dozens of educators who submitted testimony to the state asking for new latitude to use alternatives to the exit exam for certain high-achieving students who could not pass the test.
Although O’Connell ultimately rejected that option, Carey says he is pleased with the superintendent’s emphasis on remediation and on providing incentives to encourage students to keep trying, even after their four years of high school are over.
CSBA President Rivera, a member of the Ramona Unified School District, said she and her board colleagues will grant waivers to award diplomas in cases where special education students’ Individualized Education Programs specify that test modifications are appropriate. “We believe that the IEP is there for a reason,” she says. “The IEP is designed to meet the unique needs of special education students, and we believe that the IEP should be the guide in this area.”
The Ramona board will issue certificates of completion to every student who meets local high school course requirements; students who pass the CAHSEE will also receive diplomas.
Axing alternative assessments
After holding hearings on the issue in late December, O’Connell announced in January that he opposes the use of any alternative assessments. Instead he is sponsoring legislation to establish, expand and fund a list of remedial and supplemental programs to support struggling students.
All these developments come very late in the game for students, parents and educators, so it’s no wonder that many districts and county offices of education are still finalizing their graduation policies. A December 2005 survey of members of the Association of California School Administrators, conducted in conjunction with CSBA, found that 32 percent of the 160 districts and county offices that responded had not yet decided how to handle students who meet local requirements but haven’t passed the exit exam.
Twenty-six percent reported they will award certificates of completion to students who meet local graduation requirements, and 22 percent said they will award certificates to those students provided they have also attended a supplemental education program.
Other respondents designed other options that include awarding certificates of completion to special education students only, creating a certificate of achievement based on alternative “paths to diploma” or awarding certificates of attendance.
Nearly 40 percent of survey respondents reported that they would permit students who receive certificates of completion to walk across the stage with their classmates who get diplomas.
Expect more change
Although the law has been on the books since 1999, specifics about which students would be required to pass which test by what date have changed a number of times in recent years due to legal challenges, changes in state policy, and state and federal law.
Until early this year it seemed possible, for example, that the state superintendent would back the idea of permitting districts to use alternative assessments for certain high-achieving students who couldn’t pass CAHSEE.
The issue of whether to exempt special education students from the CAHSEE requirement in the current academic year was also up in the air for much of the past year. It appeared to be settled last August with a negotiated agreement to exempt the class of 2006 and passage of Senate Bill 586 by Los Angeles Democratic Sen. Gloria Romero. But the governor vetoed the bill in December, sending negotiators back to the table. The issue was settled again earlier this year — for the class of 2006 at least — when the governor signed a second, revised Romero bill into law on Jan. 30. Options for disabled students who fail the exam in the class of 2007 — and beyond — are still being debated.
Either the courts or the Legislature could step in at any point between now and graduation day with a legal decision or emergency legislation that could change everything. Advocates for economically disadvantaged students filed a lawsuit against O’Connell earlier this year over the alternative assessment and other issues. Attorneys for struggling students have promised to go to court again once the consequences of the law finally hits home for 2006 seniors and the first students are denied diplomas for failing to pass the exam.
The most recent legal challenge to CAHSEE asks the court for an injunction halting enforcement of the exit exam law and to order the state to study alternatives to the exam.
Despite the hassle and heartache that invariably accompanies a high-stakes exam requirement like California’s, O’Connell says he is confident that the program is working and has issued this public promise to the state’s high school students: “
We all must acknowledge that there are a significant number of high school seniors in the class of 2006 who are still striving to pass the CAHSEE,” O’Connell says in an open letter posted on the CDE Web site. “We also must acknowledge that at the end of this school year we will be in the difficult position of seeing some of those seniors not graduating with their peers.”
He urged students who fail the test to continue working toward earning their diplomas.
“I promise if you take advantage of these opportunities and are still not able to master these skills by the end of the school year, we will not turn our backs on you. There will be a place for you in the California public school system until you are able to master those skills needed to compete in the demanding future that awaits you.”
Carol Brydolf (cbrydolf@csba.org) is a staff writer for California Schools.