More high school students pass state-mandated exit exam
Written by Lacey Peterson, The Union Democrat August 24, 2010 12:34 pm
More Tuolumne and Calaveras county students passed the California High School Exit Exam on the first try than most of their counterparts statewide.
The California Department of Education has released the 2009-10 high school exit exam results, showing 80.6 of 10th-grade students who took the exam in March for the first time passed the English portion, and 80.7 percent passed the math portion.
“Passing the Exit Exam is a high school graduation requirement because students need these important basic skills to be successful in college, the workforce, and in life,” said Jack O’Connell, state superintendent of public instruction.
Countywide, Tuolumne and Calaveras county students performed better than the state average.
While only 80 percent of Sonora Union High School District sophomores (including alternative education students) passed math on their first attempt, the number is higher for those attending Sonora High itself – 84 percent, said Principal Todd Dearden.
The school increased three percentage points in English, with 90 percent passing on their first attempt, he added.
“It shows that our core group of instruction is doing what it needs to do,” Dearden said.
The math portion tests students at seventh- and eighth-grade levels, and at the tenth-grade level in English.
“Frankly, those are skills you should have to graduate high school,” he said.
Bret Harte High Principal Dean Way agrees.
“We’re pleased,” Way said. “The teachers are doing their jobs.”
Way said the district’s goal is to be more than 90 percent in both areas, a mark it attained in math and neared in English (88).
Freshman students are given a practice exit exam diagnostic test during required STAR testing, Way said.
Students struggling in particular areas are given extra support and tutorials before they take the exit exam for real, Way said.
Gold Rush Charter students fared the worst — only 65 percent of students passed English and 60 percent of students passed math on their first attempts.
The exit exam is a two-part standardized test in English-language arts and math and was signed into law in 1999, but the 2006 class was the first to be held accountable. The test is administered for the first time in 10th grade and offered several more times before graduation.
Students with disabilities are exempt from meeting the exit exam requirement, but many continue to take the exam, the Department of Education said.
CALIFORNIA
English – 80.6 percent
Math – 80.7 percent
TUOLUMNE COUNTY
English – 87 percent
Math – 83 percent
Big Oak Flat-Groveland (Tioga and Don Pedro high schools)
English – 85 percent
Math – 95 percent
Gold Rush Charter
English – 65 percent
Math – 60 percent
Sonora High School District (including alternative education students)
English – 87 percent
Math – 80 percent
Summerville High School (including Connections Academy and alternative education students)
English – 92 percent
Math – 92 percent
CALAVERAS COUNTY
English – 86 percent
Math – 85 percent
Bret Harte High School (including alternative education students)
English – 88 percent
Math – 90 percent
Calaveras Unified (includes Calaveras High and alternative education students)
English – 88 percent
Math – 89 percent
