Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently vetoed a state Senate bill
that would have excused some students with disabilities from having
to pass the California High School Exit Exam, but some San Benito
County school officials predict it won’t be the last challenge to
the state’s high-stakes exit exam.
Hollister – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently vetoed a state Senate bill that would have excused some students with disabilities from having to pass the California High School Exit Exam, but some San Benito County school officials predict it won’t be the last challenge to the state’s high-stakes exit exam.
“I believe this will go to the courts,” SBHS Director of Special Education Karen Schroder said.
The class of 2006 will be the first class required by law to pass the exit exam in order to graduate with a high school diploma. The bill, introduced by Senator Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, would have exempted students with disabilities in the class of 2006 and 2007 from the requirement.
The bill was originally proposed to discharge the terms of a settlement in a lawsuit, Chapman v. California, which was filed by disability rights advocates. Unlike Romero’s bill, the terms of the settlement provided only a one-year exemption for students with disabilities in the class of 2006.
“I have mixed feelings about this,” Schroder said. “It’s really good that we have standards in long-run it benefits all students, but in the short-run it raises the bar rapidly for special education students.”
About 90 percent of the 70 senior special education students at SBHS still have yet to pass the math portion of the exit exam, and 87 percent have yet to pass the language arts portion, according to latest statistics released by the California Department of Education.
Since those statistics were released, SBHS students have already had another opportunity to pass the exit exam, but the results of that test are not yet available to the public.
“It’s going to be an extraordinary challenge for some to pass the exit exam – many may wind up with certificates of completion,” Schroder said, referring to certificates that will be awarded to students who have completed all of their course work but failed to pass the exit exams. “In the coming years, however, we will be able to have many more students pass the exit exams.”
In order to make sure all students have the best possible opportunities to pass the exit exam, the Special Education Department is working diligently to write in test-taking modifications to special education students’ Individual Education Programs.
Modifications may include calculators for students who understand how to do certain math problems, but may not be able to do them quickly during the exit exam time limit.
“In the past, we’ve held off on adding modifications in order to try to get (the students) to pass without them,” Schroder said. “But now we’re writing them in so that the seniors can pass the exit exams.”
Despite some concerns about the immediate impact, Schroder is convinced the exit exam requirement will be beneficial.
“It will really focus schools on struggling students and developing the programs and support services they need,” she said.
