THIS HOLIDAY SEASON FOR SOME HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS WAS ANYTHING BUT JOLLY….

THE JOY AND EXCITEMENT HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS NORMALLY SHARE OVER THEIR LAST MAJOR HOLIDAY as high school classmates was marred for many by the worst example of failed public education policy to ever befall our State. The California High School Exit Exam [CAHSEE] legislation written and passed at warp speed in 1999 as a last ditch school reform attempt to meet ousted Governor Gray Davis's campaign promises has failed to produce.

Backfiring, high stakes testing usually reserved for graduate school, law/medical school admissions or professional licensing exams has now been adopted to keep high school students from every graduating even though they will meet or exceed all other requirements amassed over 12,000 hours, 2,000 days, and 13 years in k-12 classrooms.

Statewide 116,496 seniors started this school year still needing to pass Math and 113,038 needing to pass the English language arts [ELA] section---meaning a staggering 139,104 seniors [if they bothered to return senior year] still need to pass one or both sections to receive a diploma in June.

At anticipated low pass rates for seniors repeating the CAHSEE only about 50% of the original 9th grade cohort of 522,116 freshmen starting high school together in 2002-03 will walk across graduation stages in California next June and be handed a real diploma.

Even undergraduate colleges, graduate and professional schools do not base admittance entirely on a single test. Diplomas in higher education never rely on one antiquated pencil/paper multiple choice test and a cold-turkey, surprise topic essay written long-hand under stress without any modern technology, drafts, edits, or reference materials.

Such a set-up is grossly unjust and intolerable public policy that works to sabotage life prospects for post-secondary education, training in lucrative trades, public sector jobs, scholarships, financial aid, and access to sustainable living wages chiefly impacting students of color and with disabilities.

In the state, approximately 60,000 students drop-out every year according to the Harvard Civil Rights Project research on California drop-out. But seniors who returned for senior year are persevering---some taking the CAHSEE the 4th, 5th, or 6th time this year so the 220-230 credits they acquire in English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Economics, Geography, History, Performing/Visual Arts, Computers, and electives will not be in vain.

Ironically this smorgasbord of required courses includes passing about 14 semesters of math and English courses based on the identical rigorous academic standards as the CAHSEE. Furthermore, these courses have distinct and preferred advantage over snap-shot tests because courses employ multiple measures, such as projects, presentations, research, reports, and exams, to measure academic achievement. Multiple measures also provide evidence of vital non-testable virtues [i.e., work ethic, determination, public speaking, task and time management, computer skills] that are far more essential and more informative for predicting success in the real world than a one-size impossible to fit all and tell all test score.

Students, teachers, parents, and taxpayers need to stand up and revolt against the wasteful, useless California High School Exit Exam. It proves nothing except how far off course politically motivated leaders are willing to go to save face---at any expense including forsaking those they are sworn to protect.

Jo Rupert Behm, M.S., RN Past State President, Learning Disabilities Association of California State and Federal Public Policy Consultant

Sincerely,

Jo Rupert Behm, M.S., RN

415-897-2426