Ruling expected soon in California exit exam case

… on whether or not students who failed the California High School exit exam will still be able to graduate from high school:

For Elda Yanez, a tiny but determined 17-year-old, a court ruling to scrap the California High School Exit Exam for the Class of 2006 would mean just one thing. One immensely important thing.

“I cry with all my heart that there would be a way for me to walk on stage with my fellow classmates at commencement on June 13,” said Yanez, a senior at Hiram Johnson High School in Sacramento.

Yanez and thousands of other California high school seniors who still need a passing score on the state’s exit exam to graduate this year will probably have to wait until Friday to learn their fate.

That’s when Alameda Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman said he would issue a final ruling in a lawsuit challenging the California High School Exit Exam. He said he would give lawyers on both sides two more days to submit arguments over which students would be included in any action taken by the court.

The suit, filed by San Francisco attorney Arturo Gonzales on behalf of students who flunked the exam, asks the court to stop the state from denying diplomas to 12th-graders who failed the test that was supposed to be a graduation requirement this year for the first time. It alleges that the state has not provided all students equal opportunities to learn the material on the exam.

The state will continue to fight for the test, California’s superintendent of public instruction said after Tuesday’s court hearing. “Recognizing that today’s ruling is not final, I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that at the end of the legal day we maintain the integrity of the high school exit exam,” said Jack O’Connell, the state schools chief.

Whatever happens in the courtroom, Elda Yanez will take the math portion of the exit exam today, her third or fourth stab at passing the test. She moved from Denver two years ago, where she took geometry but not algebra.

“I didn’t have any problem with the English test, just the math part,” she said. “I know math is important, and I have worked and worked. And I think this exit exam is really good – but why not enforce it next year?”

Yeah, why not? Reward those who failed this year, and wait until it’s someone else’s headache to enforce the exit exam requirements. That’s the ticket!

Will Alameda Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman reward failure? Stay tuned …

9 Responses to "Ruling expected soon in California exit exam case"

David Foster says:

May 10, 2006 at 10:30 am

And in related news, a California Superior Court judge ruled that the FAA cannot deny Airline Transport Pilot certificates to applicants who have failed the written test, because not all pilots have had instructors of equal quality, and some of them attended public schools in which reading was not taught effectively. The Justice Department, acting on behalf of the FAA, has filed a motion in Federal Court to overturn to the decision on grounds of jurisdiction.

The above is satire. For now.
Severian says:

May 10, 2006 at 11:25 am

Yeah, why not? Reward those who failed this year, and wait until it’s someone else’s headache to enforce the exit exam requirements. That’s the ticket!

That’s a typical reaction of the immature and childish. As long as it doesn’t get me, who cares what you do to others. Remember, we had one recently banned poster here who said he made $50K a year, and of course believed that incomes over $50K should be taxed at a 100% rate. Yeah, that’s the entire basis of class warfare and wealth envy, anyone who makes more than me, is rich. Anyone who gets more sex than me is promiscuous, anyone after me should have to prove they know enough to get out of school, but not me.
Big Bang Hunter says:

May 10, 2006 at 12:39 pm

– The dumbing down of America continues unabated. Anything to avoid dealing with the core problems of public schooling, and to maintain the Teachers union, which lets face it, without that egalitarian organization teachers might actually be required to shoulder some responsibility in excellance in the profession, and most probably would have higher incomes as well, if for no other reason than the union dues they would save.

– If we never fix the schools, and just continue to paper over the problems, we will pay as a society eventually. Every child that gets “left behind by proxy”, doesn’t really achieve a reasonable level of education, will go forth into the matket place, unprepared, unskilled, un-selfsufficient to cope and compete in the work-a-day world. More potential bodies and minds for the nannystatist Socialism that some see as the end game for our country.

– Self fullfilling prophesy? As time goes by, more and more parents opt out, turning to home schooling, or privite institutions, which only exaserbates the problems, no matter the levels of Fed/State money thrown at the problem.

– We took down the airline controllers when they went against the greater public good, surely the future of our children, our country, is more important than frequent flier miles.

– One thing is sure. somethings got to give, Nothing that is this askew and important can go on being so completely usless and survive.

– I’m always moved to the feeling in watching all of the back and forth between Securalists and Religionists, Progressives, Conservatives, Politicians, Shool boards, Churches, business leaders, and just plain citizens and parents, that for reasons known only to G_d, the one thing everyone in the chaos and mix seem to be unable to focus on, is the children and their education.

– Maybe I’m old fashioned but I thought that was the whole reason for having schools in the first place. Where did we go wrong?

– Bang
Cynthia says:

May 10, 2006 at 1:27 pm

What happens to the students who complete all the graduation requirements? Will they continue to take the HS Exit Exam into adulthood until they pass to receive a HS diploma? Will this discourage students to drop out of school who can’t pass the test? Whats the point in putting in 4 yrs, pass the required courses if you don’t receive a reward in the end (a diploma).. If this test is mandatory it NEVER should have been postponed years ago (to allow previous students who failed to graduate) Whats the State going to do about all the children who finished the requirements but received no diplomas? What do they do? How do you get a diploma if you can’t pass a test?
Severian says:

May 10, 2006 at 2:14 pm

The simple answer, Cynthia, is, you don’t get a diploma if you don’t pass the test. The test is an objective measurement of whether or not you learned what you were supposed to learn, as grades are easily and often inflated. A diploma is supposed to mean “this person has demostrated they have mastered a certain minimal skill set” not “this person has kept a chair in a school building warm for 12 years plus.”
benning says:

May 10, 2006 at 2:25 pm

Ahhh, screw it! It’s too hard to insist on passing some silly test. Let’s wait for a decade or so and then point to the failures and blame somebody else.

We’ve done it before.
C. Betscha says:

May 14, 2006 at 12:49 pm

Does anyone understand that this is just one of the many ways this country is being effected by illegal immigration. Look who filed the lawsuit. But, I just don’t see anyone willing to address this issue.
Merry says:

May 19, 2006 at 10:03 am

One has to wonder how students who are in the 12th grade were ever allowed to GET THERE without having the basic math skills that were supposed to have been mastered in the 8th grade. This issue is a bit more involved than why seniors can’t pass a test of 8th grade math skills.
Perhaps “promotion” to the 9th grade is a better time to hold students back.
constine says:

May 19, 2006 at 5:36 pm

to those who agreed with this test to me i don’t really like the test because it’s unfair for the students for not getting an equal apportunity, all the students who pass all their local grads. requirement will get a diploma…

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