(Oct. 8, 2015) -- Governor Jerry Brown, Jr. has signed into law SB 172, a bill that suspends the CA High School Exit Exam for the 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18 school years.

The measure requires the state Superintendent of Public Instruction to convene an advisory panel comprised of secondary teachers, school administrators, school board members, parents, a student chosen from among the two finalists who were not appointed by the Governor to serve as the student member on the State board of Education, representatives of a dropout recovery charter school, measurement experts, and individuals with expertise in assessing English learners and pupils with disabilities, to provide recommendations to the Superintendent on the continuation of the high school exit examination "and on alternative pathways to satisfy the high school graduation requirements..."

The bill also adds these recommendations to those the Sup't of Public Instruction must make by March 1, 2016 to the State Board of Education (SBE) regarding expansion of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) (testing that replaced former statewide standardized testing which the state legislature eliminated in 2013.)

To view SB 172's text as signed into law, click here.

Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell (D, LB), who chairs the Assemblyman Education Committee, voted "yes" in the Committee to advance the bill and voted "yes" when it came to the Assembly floor. In the State Senate, Senator Ricardo Lara (D, LB-Huntington Park) voted "yes" and Senator Janet Nguyen (R, SE LB/west OC) voted "no." For a full list of recorded votes, click here.

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In July, the Assembly Education Committee's legislative analysis indicated the bill's supporters included the LB Area Chamber of Commerce, the CA State PTA, the CA Teachers Association and the CA School Boards Association; LBUSD's school board wasn't listed as taking a voted position on the bill.

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[Assembly Education Committee legislative analysis text]

Background. The CAHSEE assesses pupils in the areas of English language arts and mathematics. It was established by SB 2X (O'Connell, Chapter 1, Statutes of 1999). SB 2X was part of a package of school reform bills that established new curriculum content standards, a new statewide assessment program, and related professional development and instructional programs.

The requirement to pass the exam as a condition of receiving a high school diploma was originally to take effect with the class of 2004. However, the State Board of Education (SBE) determined that a high failure rate in the pilot year was due to the fact that the new, standards based instruction had not been in place long enough to give pupils an adequate amount of time to prepare for the exam. Accordingly the SBE voted to defer the requirement to the class of 2006.

The CAHSEE is evaluated annually by the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO). The most recent annual report (November 24, 2014) covers the class of 2014. The report notes that the pass rate has increased from year to year, and in 2014 it was 97.2% among all pupils (this includes pupils who had to take the test more than once before they passed it). By ethnicity, the pass rate ranged from 96.1% for Latino/Hispanic pupils to 99.3% for while pupils.

The pass rate for students with disabilities was 67.0%. The highest subgroup pass rate was 99.7% for English learners who had been reclassified as fluent English.

New standards. The CAHSEE is aligned to the content standards for English language arts and mathematics that were adopted pursuant to the 1999 education reform package of bills. In 2010 the SBE voted to adopt the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The adoption of the CCSS led to the development of new statewide assessments that are aligned to the new standards.

However, the CAHSEE is still aligned to the old standards. This misalignment is discussed in the 2014 HumRRO biennial report (January 31, 2014, pages 228-229):

Of the approximately 22,000 ELA and mathematics items in the entire CAHSEE item bank, only about 16,000 (73%) were initially considered to be associated with California content standards that could be cross-walked to CCSS, according to ETS. HumRRO observed review meetings ETS held to evaluate the 16,000 items for alignment at the item-to-CCSS level. Approximately half or more of the items were judged not aligned when evaluated directly to a CCSS standard, and an additional number of mathematics items were judged to align to a CCSS standard at an earlier grade than the California content standard did. These results indicate that the CAHSEE item bank would need to be substantially revised (e.g., replacing or modifying a significant number of items) to align the CAHSEE to the CCSS rather than to the previous California Content Standards.

Impact of the CAHSEE. HumRRO reports that the CAHSEE has resulted in "greater alignment of instruction to the state's content standards and improved student learning,...to a large extent." However, Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) concluded that the CAHSEE "had no positive effects on students' academic skill," and has led to "a large negative impact on graduation rates for students in the bottom quartile of achievement, and that this impact was especially large for minority students and for girls" (Sean Reardon and Michal Kurlaender, "Effects of the California High School Exit Exam on Student Persistence, Achievement, and Graduation," August 2009). A more recent report from the National Bureau of Economic Research came to a similar conclusion: "We find relatively modest effects of high school exit exams except on incarceration. Exams assessing academic skills below the high school level have little effect. However, more challenging standards-based exams reduce graduation and increase incarceration rates" (Olesya Baker and Kevin Lang, "The Effect of High School Exit Exams on Graduation, Employment, Wages and Incarceration," June 2013)...

Earlier this year, the CA legislature passed, and Governor Brown signed, a bill (SB 725) exempting students in the recently graduated class of 2015, who've met all other graduation requirements, from having to pass the CA High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) to obtain their diploma because the exit exam wasn't aligned with new "common core" standards. (The bill exempted 2015 seniors who hadn't previously passed CAHSEE by May of their senior year and were trying to retake it in July but couldn't because the CA Dept. of Education had suspended it as the test wasn't/isn't aligned with new "common core.")

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[Listed in July 1 Assembly Legislative Analysis]

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

California School Boards Association
Bay Area Council
Business Council of San Joaquin County
East Bay Economic Development Agency
California State PTA
California Teachers Association
East Bay Leadership Council
EdVoice
Inland Empire Economic Partnership
Joint Venture Silicon Valley
Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation
North Bay Leadership Council
Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce
Orange County Business Council
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
San Diego Chamber of Commerce
San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation
San Diego Unified School District
San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
San Francisco Unified School District
San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce
Santa Clara County Office of Education
School Employers Association of California
SIATech
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Small School Districts' Association
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson

Opposition

Public Advocates
San Bernardino City Unified School District
One individual

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When originally enacted, the CA High School Exit exam was considered a bipartisan centerpiece of educational reform, signed into law by then Governor Gray Davis (a Dem.) Supporters said it showed parents and taxpayers that CA high school graduates who received a diploma could demonstrate certain basic skills. Students were given multiple chances to pass the test, starting in the 10th grade; most passed it on their first try or on subsequent tries...but some didn't. Supporters say the exam encourages students to work harder and requires school districts to intensify efforts to close a demographic achievement gap. Opponents argue the exam disproportionately impacts English learners and low income students and discourages them from staying in school. Studies on the High School Exit Exam have reached differing conclusions.

In a separate but related development, in October 2013, the state legislature passed and Governor Brown signed AB 484 that ended CA's Standardized Testing and Reporting program (STAR tests.), The action eliminated Academic Performance Index scores which many parents and students used to see how well their local school performed, in terms of student's standardized test scores, compared to other schools. In its place, a new "California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress" (CAASPP), aligned to common core standards, was created. Initial school and student scores on the new CAASPP haven't been released publicly (shared thus far only with school administrators.) However CA's Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson, is required to report by March 1, 2016 to the State Board of Education (SBE) on expanding the CAASPP. The Long Beach Unified School District was among those supporting the elimination of CA's standardized testing program in 2013.

LBUSD also joined a number of CA school districts (including Los Angeles, Santa Ana and Oakland) in seeking and obtaining a waiver from the U.S. Dept. of Education from some requirements that other CA school districts must meet under the federal "No Child Left Behind Act." The federal law sets tough (some argue too inflexible) standards that schools nationwide must meet to show they're successfully educating all of their students. LBUSD's administration and the LB school board have been on record for some time in urging Congress to amend the "No Child Left Behind Act" to allow greater flexibility, different standards and local control over how schools and student performance should be measured.

The No Child Left Behind Act, also considered a school reform measure when enacted in 2002, is due for reauthorization, and has drawn criticism from some who argue it should be amended to allow a more flexible measurement system to measure school and student performance (arguments paralleling those surrounding CA's exit exam and state standardized testing.) Controversy over the federal bill is further amplified by criticism of new "common core" standards.

In July 2015 the U.S. Senate approved a bill that would give states more flexibility in setting their standards for measure schools and student performance; it awaits action in the House of Representatives.