October 2007 — News
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Calif. Law Brings Remediation to Exit Exams (Updated)
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law Oct. 12 Assembly Bill 347, amending existing portions of the state's Education Code covering high school exit examinations. The new law addresses, among other things, the issue of remediation for students who are unable to pass the English and/or math portions of the exams. There are presently some 65,000 students in California from the classes of 2006 and 2007 who have met all other requirements for graduation but have not yet passed the exit exam, according to law firm Morrison & Foerster, which challenged the exit exam requirement in court last year.
In Valenzuela v. O'Connell, brought by Morrison & Foerster on behalf of plaintiff Liliana Valenzuela in 2006, an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled against maintaining the California High School Exit Exam (CAHEE) as a condition of graduation and issued a preliminary injunction, prohibiting the withholding of diplomas from students who had otherwise completed the requirements for graduation in the class of 2006. In August 2007, a Court of Appeals ruling "vacated" the injunction but "held that the proper remedy [for the apparent educational inequity in the testing] was to provide additional instruction to the students who had not passed the test," according to Arturo González, lead counsel representing the plaintiffs in the case.
"At issue here is whether we are providing students across the state a fair opportunity to pass an exam which will dramatically impact their future opportunities," González told THE Journal. "Latino, African-American, and English learner students have been adversely and disproportionately impacted by the exit exam requirement. This follows from the fact that these students are more likely to be in schools lacking adequate resources and fully qualified teachers, which are key to an adequate opportunity to learn the test material."
The new law attempts to solve the issue by providing for up to two years of intensive remediation for students who fail to pass either portion of the exit exam after 12th grade. In addition to extending remediation to two years after 12th grade, the law also provides for:
- Student assessments to identify areas of need;
- Assessments of deficiencies in schools' instructional materials;
- Additional reporting requirements;
- Options for continuing education through community college, adult education programs, intensive remediation courses for up to two years, and continued enrollment at the student's school district;
- Local programs to ensure that students are aware of their options and that they are being served adequately, as well as a formal complaint mechanism for parents and students; and
- Funding for additional costs associated with the provisions of the law.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell at the time of the preliminary injunction defended the exit exams in a public statement: "The lower court may have intended to benefit those students, but the effect of [the] decision was to eliminate the one mechanism California had in place to make certain students graduate with essential skills."
