Jack O'Connell

Jack O'Connell
August 26, 2015

Gov. Jerry Dark-brown signed Senate Bill 725 by Senator Loni Hancock, D-Oakland, on Wednesday, a bill that was moved rapidly through the Legislature to allow students in the Class of 2022 to receive high school diplomas without passing the California High School Exit Exam, or CAHSEE.

I completely support this action – the exit exam was not administered in July and a number of students who had completed all other graduation requirements and planned to retake the exam were deprived of that opportunity. Aside from the broader policy debates about the merits of an exit exam, it is important for all of u.s.a. to focus first on the needs of our students and make certain they are treated fairly. This is specially true when their opportunities to go to college or find a good job are at stake.

I was the author of SB2-X1 (1999), the legislation that created the high school go out exam, and I yet think the pecker was a good thought at that fourth dimension. The original get out exam was designed to ensure that students graduate with the basic noesis and skills they need in the workplace and in life, and to shine a light on those students who are struggling. Requiring passage of the exit exam also helped to lower the achievement gap past incentivizing loftier schools to focus on students who were in danger of non mastering the skills measured by the get out test. The legislation, and subsequent deportment taken when I served as State Superintendent of Public Didactics, ensured that students who were struggling to pass the exam would be offered additional education and multiple opportunities to succeed.

Merely this specific exit exam was always meant to be temporary. This exam, covering reading, writing and mathematics, has been in place as a condition of receipt of a high school diploma since 2006. Nosotros were transitioning to new land academic standards, and we knew those standards would change once again in the future. I've ever believed that our cess and accountability systems demand to be coherent and avoid duplicative and unnecessary testing, and the current version of the high schoolhouse exit exam is neither aligned to our standards nor essential to the development of our new accountability arrangement.

I nevertheless believe we need to ensure that all of our students graduate loftier school with the skills and knowledge they demand to be successful. Whether or not an exit examination should be role of our evolving assessment and accountability systems is worthy of debate. Only for today, we cannot let the get out examination operate equally an obstacle to students who accept earned the right to continue their paths to higher or careers. I applaud the quick action of the Legislature and governor to resolve this problem.

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Jack O'Connell was California's State Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2003 to 2022 and is a partner in Capitol Advisors in Sacramento.

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