California superintendent of public instruction Jack O'Connell has held firm, and announced that the only route to a high school diploma is through the state's exit exam:
Seniors who do not pass the California High School Exit Exam this year should be allowed to continue their education, but diplomas will be awarded only to students who pass the test, Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, announced at a Sacramento news conference Friday morning.Within hours, lawyers who oppose the exam said they will sue the state in the coming weeks to try to lift the exit exam as a requirement for this year's graduating class. O'Connell's announcement followed a three-month review of possible alternatives to the controversial math and English exam that was adopted in 1999 and is a graduation requirement for the classes of 2006 and beyond.
To the disappointment of scholars and advocates who have urged the state to develop another path to graduation for students who fail the test, O'Connell said he believes no alternative exists that would show students have learned material tested on the exam.
"I'm convinced the only way to make sure all our graduates have the critical skills is through passage of the high school exit exam," O'Connell said.
Note that all of O'Connell's options for students who fail them exam involve additional schooling, some of which could be at no cost to the student - and yet the testing opponents are still riled. Seems to me like they aren't really interested in whether students get the opportunity to actually learn the material; they just want students who are in school for 12 years to get a diploma, whether they can pass a test - on sixth through tenth-grade material - or not.
Gonzalez said he will argue that the state cannot impose a single test on all students because it has not provided the same learning opportunities at all schools. Research shows that schools with large numbers of students failing the exam also have the most math and English teachers lacking expertise in those subjects. And he criticized O'Connell's options as being out of touch with reality."How many of these kids are going to want to go back for a fifth year of high school so they can take a course to pass the exit exam?" he said. "It's not going to happen."
Gonzales, how many of these kids will have a fair shot at life with a diploma that is meaningless, when they could have spent additional time mastering the skills they need? Talk about being out of touch with reality.
Posted by kswygert at January 7, 2006 12:05 PM