The California State Senate voted recently to temporarily suspend the administration of the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) and now the legislation moves to the Assembly for its consideration.
SB 172 author Sen. Carol Liu, (D-25), proposed the law go into effect during the 2016-17 through 2018-19 school years. Additionally, the law requires the State Board of Education and State Superintendent of Public Instruction to determine whether the current exit exam can still be used.
According to an analysis by the Senate Education Committee, the current exam is not aligned to the educational standards, Common Core, which the state adopted in 2013. Consequently, students can not be held responsible for passing the test in order to graduate.
Additionally, an assessment by the human capital and educational consultancy firm HumRRO noted that it would take too long to revise the test in time for the next scheduled administration in July and possibly beyond October 2015.
The state department of education also says that the agency cannot extend the contract of the current exit test developer for another year. Instead, a request for proposals process must be implemented and the department reportedly has no plan to initiate a new competitive bidding process in time to conduct the next exit exam.
Self-described education reformer Sen. Bob Huff, (R-29) was one of two education committee members to vote against Liu’s bill (the other was Andy Vidak, R-Hanford).
Huff opposes the bill because there is no specific date that administration of the next exit exam will happen. Additionally he notes that whether the test is aligned with the new Common Core curriculum is irrelevant. The passing score for the mathematics part of the CAHSEE, according to CDE, is approximately 55 percent of items correct or a scale score of 350. The passing score for the English language arts portion of the CAHSEE is approximately 60 percent of items correct or a scale score of 350. Moreover, the rigor of each subject tested is roughly at the seventh-and eighth-grade level. Aligned to standards or not, Huff believes failure to pass the CAHSEE should be, for most students, enough to indicate that the student has not earned a high school diploma.
Huff also believes the test has served a valuable purpose of helping parents and others see that students have basic academic skills.
