The California exit exam is a convoluted distraction that
undermines focusing on the important issues related to giving our
youth a quality education based on developing critical thinking
skills and giving every child equal access to learning.
Dear Editor:
The California exit exam is a convoluted distraction that undermines focusing on the important issues related to giving our youth a quality education based on developing critical thinking skills and giving every child equal access to learning.
The exit exam focuses on the lowest skills and “dumbs down” the curriculum because it forces teachers to drill students until they memorize disconnected facts.
Endless hours of retaining (sometimes) pointless information and test taking replace teaching and learning.
While it is widely acknowledged that there is inequality in learning, often based on inequitable funding and resources, the state’s testing program does not address solutions to achieve equality. The education gap is only widened.
The schools that need additional resources because students need additional help do not receive sufficient funding to level the playing field. Instead, low-scoring students (who are primarily low-income and people of color) and teachers are publicly humiliated because students lack the resources at home and in school.
In effect, the exit exam punishes students for the failure of the state to provide students an equal, quality education.
Schools need more resources, not more tests.
Joe Navarro, Hollister
