While high school juniors and seniors dodged a mighty bullet
last summer, sophomores and younger weren’t so lucky.
During the first week in February, sophomores across the state
will take the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) for the
first time since the state Board of Education delayed the exam last
spring. The class of 2006 will be the first class in California
required to pass the exit exam to earn their diploma. It was
originally intended to start with the class of 2004.
While high school juniors and seniors dodged a mighty bullet last summer, sophomores and younger weren’t so lucky.
During the first week in February, sophomores across the state will take the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) for the first time since the state Board of Education delayed the exam last spring. The class of 2006 will be the first class in California required to pass the exit exam to earn their diploma. It was originally intended to start with the class of 2004.
“I don’t really want to (take the test). (My teachers) say it’s the hardest test of the year,” said Arlene Gamboa, San Benito High School sophomore. “A lot of students are worried about it. If you don’t pass it, you don’t graduate.”
Some educators are concerned parents and students think the exam was canceled altogether. Although it was shortened from three days to two, the exam and its consequences are still active – especially now. With pressure from politicians and educators who want to keep the test credible, it is unlikely another delay will occur.
The exam will be administered Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 3 and 4. It is composed of two sections – math and English-language arts. Most sophomores are more confident in their English abilities. SBHS sophomore Hailey Lamanna, who is both nervous and confident about the test, anticipates studying practice math questions.
“Some people might know all the stuff pretty well but not take tests very well,” Lamanna said. “I’ll eventually pass both sections I think.”
The CAHSEE was shortened by cutting the length of the English-language arts portion from two days to one. One writing task and several multiple choice questions were removed. The math portion stayed the same.
The only students taking the test are sophomores. Because it will be their first time, SBHS is not offering special tutorials. Officials want to see how students do on the test based on the school’s California Content Standards-based curriculum, said Superintendent Jean Burns Slater. In the future, SBHS will offer classes aimed specifically at passing the exit exam for students who did not pass on their first try.
Officials at Anzar High School could not be reached for comment.
The weakest area for SBHS is the math portion. New this year at SBHS, students who fail algebra I first semester are retaking that semester in a math review class that includes a math lab, Slater said. SBHS also offers math proficiency classes. The CAHSEE tests through ninth-grade algebra I and 10th-grade English.
Students who do not pass either section of the test will have five more chances to take the exam.
Numbers from the 2002-03 administrations of the exit exam show that, at SBHS, 41 percent of the students passed the math portion with 69 passing English. At Anzar, 43 percent passed math and 72 percent passed English. These numbers reflect first-time takers as well as students making second or third attempts to pass one or both portions of the exit exam. These students were members of the classes of 2004 and 2005.
The passing score for the mathematics portion of the exam is approximately 55 percent of the questions and 60 percent for the English-language arts portion, according to the California Department of Education Web site.
For more information on the CAHSEE, visit www.cde.ca.gov/statetests/cahsee/.
