Please circle the correct answer(s).
The high school exit exam:
- A: Will be administered this spring to ninth-graders.
- B: Is not ready for prime time, according to an independent evaluator.
- C: Has not had a pass/fail mark set yet, and was failed by a high percentage of test-takers in the pilot.
- D: May not be in alignment with curriculum at many schools.
- E: Has teachers worried.
Congratulations if you circled all the above because A, B, C and D are correct answers, and E is especially true.
Ready or not (and many educators believe the latter), the High School Exit Exam will be administered to ninth-graders this spring. CTA members who serve on the state Department of Education's High School Exit Exam (HSEE) Panel recently sent a laundry list of concerns about the test to State Superintendent of Instruction Delaine Eastin.
The class of 2004 will be the first class in California that must pass a high-stakes test to receive a high school diploma. Students will be allowed to try the test as freshmen, but must take it beginning in the sophomore year. If they don't pass, they will be allowed to keep retaking it and must only retake portions they don't pass.
The test will have about 100 multiple-choice questions in mathematics, including first-year algebra (calculators are not allowed); 100 multiple-choice questions in English; and two writing samples. Schools on a traditional calendar (not year-round) will take the English and language arts test on March 7 and the math test on March 14. Test time will be two to three hours for the math portion and between 3.5 and 6 hours for the language arts portion. "The test is too long," says Angela Marese Boyle, a CTA Board member who serves on the HSEE Panel. "Six hours is a lot of seat time for any one of us - let alone students. I would like to see the test given in sections."
"I am very concerned about the length of time involved," agrees panelist Kim Breen, a member of the Teachers Association of West Covina. "It's just too long. Even though technically the test is supposed to be untimed, it might be so overwhelming that some students may give up."
She is also concerned that "students are overtested already. They already have the Stanford 9 tests and the Golden State Exams. Now it's the High School Exit Exam. All these tests take time away from a teacher's regular classroom duty - which is teaching."
Because the test is standards-based, an independent evaluator and the HSEE Panel both recommended that it be postponed for at least another year. An evaluation prepared by Human Resources Research Organization in Virginia concluded that schools need more time to prepare students to meet the standards that the exit exam tests for. It also suggested that the state needs more time to develop a test that meets the standards and will stand up to legal challenges.
"The state standards are fairly new, and are not yet aligned with curriculum, textbooks and standardized tests," points out panelist Curtis Washington, a member of the San Mateo Union High School District Teachers Association. "There is no uniform curriculum to go with the standards, so it's up to each individual district to interpret the standards. And there is no training in place to make sure teachers know how to teach to the standards. If we could postpone this exam the way the advisors told us to, we could align everything and do this test properly."
"There needs to be additional funding from Sacramento for professional development to make this happen the way it should," says Boyle. "I can't express enough concern about the need for professional development so teaching can be in tune with the standards."
"We could end up with lawsuits if large numbers of students don't pass the test," says Washington. "If we try to deny students their diplomas, which have value, we must prove that we've taught these students everything they needed to pass the test, or they will have a case against the state. We'll get mired in lawsuits defending this test, or else the whole thing will get scrapped and all the time and money we've spent on this thing will get wasted."
Some 22 states now require students to take high-stakes tests to graduate from high school, according to the National Center for Policy Analysis. No one has an accurate count of how many students have failed the tests nationally, but the number has been estimated to be in the tens of thousands since the tests were introduced in the 1980s. In January, a federal judge ruled that the Texas exam did not violate the civil rights of African American and Hispanic students, even though they failed the test at a disproportionately higher rate than white students.
If pilot testing last spring is any indication, large numbers of California students may not pass the test and won't be eligible to receive diplomas. In the math portion of the field testing, taken by 4,004 students, students correctly answered 47 percent of the items on average. Of the 3,843 students who took the language arts portion, students correctly answered 60 percent of the items. Dr. Lily Roberts, a consultant in the Standards and Assessment Division of the California Department of Education, describes the test-takers as representing a full spectrum of student ability and backgrounds.
A passing rate for the exit exam is expected to be set by the state Board of Education in January after the results from a second round of pilot testing are made available.
English language learners will have to take the test in English. Special education students must also take the test, according to federal law.
"I'm really worried that, if this follows the same pattern as the STAR test, those who get diplomas and who don't will be determined by ZIP codes," says Washington. "We'll end up with minorities and the disadvantaged being denied diplomas. It will drive a wedge between the factions of our cultures - between the haves and the have-nots."
Some fear that the exam could increase the dropout level as well.
Despite the huge ramifications of the exit exam, schools may be uninformed about the issue, says Boyle. "There needs to be a real clear message that the exam will be administered this spring, according to the law. Not everyone is clear that this is happening."
She adds, "There seems to be a feeling out there that the exit exam is only the concern of high school teachers. That's not true. There are strands of the standards addressed in the exit exam that go back to second grade. There needs to be a lot of articulation between K-12 educators for students to do well on this test.
"This test doesn't concern only high school teachers. It should concern the entire education community."
Sherry Posnick-Goodwin
