The battle over California's exit exam rages in the courts:
On Wednesday, 20 high school seniors and their parents sued the state Department of Education and school Superintendent Jack O'Connell, claiming the exam is illegal and discriminatory. They worry the test may prevent the students from graduating. "I don't think it should hold up your graduation,'' said Wasi, who is not part of the lawsuit but would be affected if it is successful.The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco County Superior Court. It seeks a court injunction to delay the consequences of the exam for students in this year's class. Defendants also include the state of California and the state Board of Education. Lead attorney Arturo Gonzalez said the lawsuit likely will expand to represent tens of thousands of students who have met all local requirements to graduate except passing both sections of the exam.
Frankly, any student who receives passing grades in all their classes, is promoted all the way through 12th grade, and yet gets stumped by this test should sue the local Dept. of Ed - but not for the reasons the testing critics would think. Not only are the the California High School Exit Examination (or CAHSEE) items at the 10th grade level (math items don't go above Algebra I, for example), but the CA DOE website lists nine alternative paths for students who cannot pass the exam.
If an exit exam is going to be used, at some point, it has to count. This means a class of students will, by definition, be the first, and one could argue that the students this year haven't exactly been caught by surprise. Some enterprising reporters have even discovered that most students don't seem concerned about the exam, or go so far as to support it.
Nonethless, in addition to the lawsuit, we're seeing the usual arguments made that "multiple intelligences" are the issue when students make high grades but can't deal with multiple-choice items. It's tough enough for California to fight the battle for mandatory algebra in high school, but without the exit exam (or some equivalent high-stakes standardized test), there's no way to measure whether algebra is being taught effectively, or consistently.
If you were a parent, would you be satisfied if your teenager had an "A" in Algebra I but couldn't answer a question of the "If x=3 and y=4, then 2x+5y=" type? And would you feel comforted knowing of their "multiple intelligence?"
Posted by kswygert at February 12, 2006 04:28 PM