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Boo-effing-hoo....my ancestors managed it well enough.
SACRAMENTO – Like hundreds of thousands of high school seniors throughout California, Nadira Wasi wants to graduate with her class this spring.
To do so, she faces an obstacle that no class before hers has had to overcome – the state's high school exit exam. Wasi, who is part of a program for students who need extra assistance in school, passed the English section but has twice failed the math portion.
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The 17-year-old from Natomas High School in Sacramento is confident she'll eventually pass, but time is running out. She doesn't like the exam and thinks the state is putting too much emphasis on it.
“I don't think it should hold up your graduation,” she said.
On Wednesday, a group of high school seniors and their parents who are worried the test might prevent them from graduating filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Education and school Superintendent Jack O'Connell, claiming the exam is illegal and discriminatory.
They are seeking a court injunction to delay the consequences of the exam for students in this year's class. Wasi is not part of the lawsuit but would be affected if it is successful.
This year's senior class is the first required to pass the exit exam to receive a high school diploma. Nearly half the states have a similar graduation requirement.
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.
“Many students in California have not been given a fair opportunity to learn the material on the exam,” Gonzalez said. “These are good kids who have worked hard for 13 years to pass their courses.”
At the start of this school year, about 100,000 seniors had not passed at least one of the sections – more than one-fifth of the state's roughly 450,000 high school seniors.
State officials have said they do not have updated figures, although they say the number is much lower now because students have had several chances to take the exam this school year.
Gonzalez said the state failed to study alternatives for students who could not pass the test, particularly English-learners, as the legislation required when lawmakers approved the exam in 1999. The lawsuit also claims the state is denying some students their fundamental right to an equal education.
It was filed in San Francisco County Superior Court and names 10 students and their parents as plaintiffs. Defendants also include the state of California and the state Board of Education.
Liliana Valenzuela, one of the plaintiffs and a senior at Richmond High School in the San Francisco Bay area, has a 3.84 grade-point average and is 12th in her class of 413, according to the lawsuit. She said she passed the math portion of the test on her first try but has been unable to pass the English section.
“I have been working really hard to go to college,” Valenzuela said Wednesday during a news conference. “I have been on the honor roll for the last four years. ... I really wanted to wear my cap and gown.”
The lawsuit argues that the state has no compelling reason to deny students their diplomas and that doing so serves no public interest.
Department of Education spokeswoman Hilary McLean said she had no immediate comment on the lawsuit because department officials had not seen it.
O'Connell, who helped write the exit exam legislation, said last month that he had considered alternative assessments for students who fail to pass the exam before deciding against them. The state held a public hearing in December to take comments on its options.
“We would argue that it's more unfair to hand them a diploma that doesn't mean anything and doesn't arm them with the skills and knowledge they'll need,” McLean said.
O'Connell has said students who fail the exam can take another year of high school, get extra tutoring, enroll in summer school or attend community college until they pass. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger included $40 million for tutorial programs in his budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
James Dahm and April Crawley, both 18 and seniors at Rio Linda High School near Sacramento said their school has offered numerous tutoring sessions to help students pass. Both said they passed the English portion of the test on the first try but needed two attempts to pass math.
“You don't see us trying to sue people,” Crawley said.
The two said they spend 35 minutes a week in a special course that teaches them test-taking strategies.
Earlier this month, the state settled a lawsuit by agreeing to give special education students a one-year waiver on the exit exam requirement.
Nationwide, 23 states have graduation exams and four more are phasing them in by 2012, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education Policy. Most states offer options for students with special needs and those who are learning English, center president Jack Jennings said.
He said if states want to test students in English, they'll have to do a better job teaching it.
“We'll have to find some way to teach everybody English, including those who just come into the country from another country,” he said. “Otherwise, it makes no sense. How would you like to be tested in Armenian if you don't know Armenian?”
He said most states want to make the academic standards and the exams more rigorous, but most only measure at about a 10th-grade level. California's exam tests 10th-grade English, ninth-grade math and level-one algebra. Students need to answer 60 percent of the questions correctly to pass each section.
To do so, she faces an obstacle that no class before hers has had to overcome – the state's high school exit exam. Wasi, who is part of a program for students who need extra assistance in school, passed the English section but has twice failed the math portion.
Advertisement
Click Me!
The 17-year-old from Natomas High School in Sacramento is confident she'll eventually pass, but time is running out. She doesn't like the exam and thinks the state is putting too much emphasis on it.
“I don't think it should hold up your graduation,” she said.
On Wednesday, a group of high school seniors and their parents who are worried the test might prevent them from graduating filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Education and school Superintendent Jack O'Connell, claiming the exam is illegal and discriminatory.
They are seeking a court injunction to delay the consequences of the exam for students in this year's class. Wasi is not part of the lawsuit but would be affected if it is successful.
This year's senior class is the first required to pass the exit exam to receive a high school diploma. Nearly half the states have a similar graduation requirement.
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.
“Many students in California have not been given a fair opportunity to learn the material on the exam,” Gonzalez said. “These are good kids who have worked hard for 13 years to pass their courses.”
At the start of this school year, about 100,000 seniors had not passed at least one of the sections – more than one-fifth of the state's roughly 450,000 high school seniors.
State officials have said they do not have updated figures, although they say the number is much lower now because students have had several chances to take the exam this school year.
Gonzalez said the state failed to study alternatives for students who could not pass the test, particularly English-learners, as the legislation required when lawmakers approved the exam in 1999. The lawsuit also claims the state is denying some students their fundamental right to an equal education.
It was filed in San Francisco County Superior Court and names 10 students and their parents as plaintiffs. Defendants also include the state of California and the state Board of Education.
Liliana Valenzuela, one of the plaintiffs and a senior at Richmond High School in the San Francisco Bay area, has a 3.84 grade-point average and is 12th in her class of 413, according to the lawsuit. She said she passed the math portion of the test on her first try but has been unable to pass the English section.
“I have been working really hard to go to college,” Valenzuela said Wednesday during a news conference. “I have been on the honor roll for the last four years. ... I really wanted to wear my cap and gown.”
The lawsuit argues that the state has no compelling reason to deny students their diplomas and that doing so serves no public interest.
Department of Education spokeswoman Hilary McLean said she had no immediate comment on the lawsuit because department officials had not seen it.
O'Connell, who helped write the exit exam legislation, said last month that he had considered alternative assessments for students who fail to pass the exam before deciding against them. The state held a public hearing in December to take comments on its options.
“We would argue that it's more unfair to hand them a diploma that doesn't mean anything and doesn't arm them with the skills and knowledge they'll need,” McLean said.
O'Connell has said students who fail the exam can take another year of high school, get extra tutoring, enroll in summer school or attend community college until they pass. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger included $40 million for tutorial programs in his budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
James Dahm and April Crawley, both 18 and seniors at Rio Linda High School near Sacramento said their school has offered numerous tutoring sessions to help students pass. Both said they passed the English portion of the test on the first try but needed two attempts to pass math.
“You don't see us trying to sue people,” Crawley said.
The two said they spend 35 minutes a week in a special course that teaches them test-taking strategies.
Earlier this month, the state settled a lawsuit by agreeing to give special education students a one-year waiver on the exit exam requirement.
Nationwide, 23 states have graduation exams and four more are phasing them in by 2012, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education Policy. Most states offer options for students with special needs and those who are learning English, center president Jack Jennings said.
He said if states want to test students in English, they'll have to do a better job teaching it.
“We'll have to find some way to teach everybody English, including those who just come into the country from another country,” he said. “Otherwise, it makes no sense. How would you like to be tested in Armenian if you don't know Armenian?”
He said most states want to make the academic standards and the exams more rigorous, but most only measure at about a 10th-grade level. California's exam tests 10th-grade English, ninth-grade math and level-one algebra. Students need to answer 60 percent of the questions correctly to pass each section.
Boo-effing-hoo....my ancestors managed it well enough.
I bet many school districts in the same situation would of given into the parent's demands, elected school boards care more about pleasing the parents that vote for them than doing what is best for the students.
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