Proposal may cut test stress

School district leaders suggest allowing students to walk, but not get diploma, if they haven’t passed state-required exit exam.The Newport-Mesa Unified School District on Tuesday proposed allowing all seniors to walk in the June graduation ceremony if they complete their required coursework but fail to pass the high school exit exam that became a state requirement this year.

At a study session Tuesday at the district office, assessment director Peggy Anatol suggested creating certificates for students who pass all their classes but come up short on the California High School Exit Exam. Under the proposed system, these students would be honored for their work in high school but still have to return to complete the exam before earning their diplomas.

After the two-hour session, Anatol agreed to return to the school board in December with official recommendations. Newport-Mesa may offer certificates only to special education students who have not passed the exit exam, or it may offer them to all students who have not passed.

Supt. Robert Barbot said the certificates, if approved, would reward students for their success in the classroom but not take the place of a diploma.

“This is not an opportunity for somebody to cross the line who has not met the classroom requirement,” Barbot said at the meeting. “This is a completion of the work, not the test.”

The California High School Exit Exam was first offered in spring of 2001. The test includes sections in English and mathematics and can be taken as early as a student’s sophomore year.

The students in the class of 2006 are the first who must pass the exit exam in order to graduate. Recently, the rule has come under attack from many in the education community who argue that special education and English-learner students should be exempt from taking the same test that other students take.

This fall, the state legislature submitted a bill that would exempt special education students from taking the exit exam, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it, saying that it would send a message of low expectations to students with disabilities.

According to Anatol, Newport-Mesa currently has 213 seniors who have not passed the exit exam, of which 95 are in special education programs and 123 are English-learners (some are learning English and in special education programs). The seniors last took the exit exam the first two days of November, and will have one more chance in March of next year.

However, Anatol said she doubted that all the remaining seniors, particularly those in special education programs, could pass the test by the end of the year. Of the 95 students with disabilities, at least 24 are will need major accommodations to take the test.

Newport-Mesa already offers interventions for students who are struggling to pass the exit exam, including after-school preparatory classes, summer courses and special files in which teachers and counselors keep track of students’ performance.

If Newport-Mesa offers certificates to students, then they will be allowed to walk with their classmates at graduation, but afterward would have to return to school, adult education or community college if they wanted to earn diplomas.

“We feel this is a moral obligation to recognize students with some deficiencies who have made advances,” Barbot said.

Newport-Mesa high school principals vouched support for the certificates, saying they believed students should be honored for overcoming difficulties.

“I think the system needs to be looked at to level the playing field, absolutely,” said Newport Harbor High School principal Michael Vossen. “When we administer the exam, we can see some individuals who appear extremely frustrated, and you can tell they’re going to have difficulty passing it at all.”

Estancia High School principal Tom Antal said he trusted the state’s judgment in making the exit exam mandatory but added that he believed students with special needs should have an alternative.

“Those kids have achieved an awful lot, and one missing piece doesn’t warrant being thrown out of the system,” he said.

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