CAHSEE posts best gains ever
But states’ schools falter under NCLB measures
Published: September 3, 2013
The 2013-14 school year begins with promising results from the California High School Exit Exam, even while the state’s overall Academic Performance Index fell slightly and more schools than ever suffer under federal accountability measures.
The state’s Class of 2013 posted a 95.5 percent passing rate on the CAHSEE—a gain of 5.1 percent over the first year the test became a graduation requirement in 2006, and a half-percentage point higher than the Class of 2012’s rate, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced last week.
“Despite the very real challenges of deep budget cuts and the ongoing effort to shift to new, more demanding academic standards, our schools persevered and students made progress,” Torlakson said, echoing his Aug. 8 assessment of the STAR results that go into the API report.
The percentage of students who scored proficient or better in STAR’s measure of math performance fell by less than a half percentage point between the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years, dropping from 51.5 percent to 51.2 percent; in English-language arts, results declined from 57.2 percent proficient or better to 56.4 percent.
“These results should give us confidence as we start the new school year, and our efforts to make college and career readiness a goal for every student move into high gear.”
Preliminary 2012-13 results for CASHEE tests administered between July 2012 and May 2013 show increased passing rates among most demographic subgroups of students by the end of their senior year. However, African American and Latino students still lag far behind their Asian and White peers, and their higher dropout rates indicate that many of these students leave school before passing the CAHSEE. Comprehensive results and breakdowns by subgroup, school, district, county, and state levels are posted at http://cahsee.cde.ca.gov.
NCLB demands near-90 percent proficiency
The news was less encouraging from the U.S. Department of Education’s assessment of California’s Title I schools’ “adequate yearly progress” under the No Child Left Behind Act. The current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, NCLB remains in force even while its reauthorization languishes in Congress six years after that law expired. NCLB’s sliding scale ratchets up year after year, to the point that California schools subject to NCLB are now labeled in need of Program Improvement unless nearly 90 percent of its students test proficient in English and math.
“As a result, only 14 percent out of 9,861 schools met the AYP benchmarks this year compared to 26 percent last year. Of the more than 6,200 Title I-funded schools, only 10 percent reached federal proficiency,” according to a CDE press release.
The federal accountability measures are a moot point for nearly a million students—some 16 percent of the state’s enrollment—in eight California districts. The Obama administration last month awarded those districts a unique waiver of most NCLB requirements for 2013-14 through the California Office to Reform Education, a consortium formed to pursue greater academic achievement for its students through inter-district collaboration and innovation.
“It is unfortunate that officials in Washington continue to enforce a program they have acknowledged is deeply flawed, and that paints too many high-achieving schools with the same broad brush,” Torlakson said. “As an elected official, I’m obliged to comply with the law. But as a teacher, I’ll continue to urge Congress and the Administration to get to work, change course, and replace No Child Left Behind with a workable law that fosters rather than hinders the progress California’s schools are making.”
California was previously denied the statewide waiver that 39 other states and the District of Columbia have received, primarily because California balked at teacher evaluation requirements that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sought in exchange for flexibility on NCLB.
This CDE Web page breaks down AYP reports at school, district, county and statewide levels.