100,000 California HS Seniors Fail Graduation Exam

Beginning with the Class of 2006, students must pass the California graduation exam to receive a diploma. The exam has two parts, math and English. Students in the 12th grade must demonstrate proficiency at the eighth-grade level in math and at the ninth-grade to tenth-grade levels in English to graduate. Unfortunately, the students' success rate needs improvement. According to a report by the Virginia-based Human Resources Research Organization (HRRO), about 20 percent, approximately 100,000, of the state's high school seniors have not been able to pass the exam.

Naturally, the usual suspects have protested. Disability rights advocates, minority rights advocates, special education advocates, and high school students have loudly voiced complaints of being victimized by an unfair system. All in all, the protesters want the requirements to be dumbed-down, with everyone getting special consideration.

Lauress L. Wise, president of HRRO, sees a need to provide dumbed-down options for the failing students. Specifically,

The state, for example, could allow seniors to submit portfolios of work that demonstrate mastery of English and math, the report's authors suggested.

The report also proposed that schools allow students to spend an extra year in high school or earn diplomas by completing special summer school programs in lieu of the exam.

Additionally, the state could establish alternate diplomas or graduation certificates for students who pass part of the exit exam, the group said.

In summary, Wise is suggesting ways for students to avoid taking the exam or ways for them to graduate despite failing the exam.

However, Jack O'Connell, California Superintendent of Public Instruction, stated that he won't entertain any changes to the system which would diminish the value of a high school diploma. Nevertheless, his staff has been instructed to review the recommendations in the report.


[Update 10/04/05]

As expected, others have weighed in on the California graduation exam issue.

Seemingly in full support of Lauress Wise's beliefs is EdWonk of The Education Wonks who espouses different ranks of diplomas be awarded based upon test results. Specifically, all students would graduate, but the type of diploma would be determined by their exam grade.

Students who scored "X" percentile on an examination could be awarded the much-coveted diploma of the "First Rank." (Select better sounding name here.) Students who obtained lower scores could be awarded diplomas of the Second Rank, Third Rank, etc.

It's assumed that "etc." takes the ranking system down to the bottom. As such, a student could conceivably be given a "Rank Ten Diploma," indicating only 10 percent or less of the questions on the graduation exam were answered correctly.

As an aside, we must remember that the graduation exam is given to 12-grade students to prove they have acquired 8th-grade knowledge in math and, at the most, 10th-grade knowledge in English. Alternatives to the graduation exam requirement lead to the ridiculous situation where a student could graduate from high school without knowing enough to pass an 8th-grade test. And, unfortunately, that's what has been happening, attested to quite convincingly by the fact that many colleges are forced to offer remedial high school courses.

I must respectfully disagree with the diploma-ranking scheme and see it as just another way to allow failing students to graduate.

On the other side of the issue is Kimberly Swygert of Number 2 Pencil, who opines, and I agree, that alternatives to testing for knowledge can be "squishily" manipulated to guarantee that all kids graduate.

Companion post at Diggers Realm.