exit exam......fail.

In the midst of this economic crisis, there have been significant funding cuts for state programs across the board, but education has been hit extremely hard. Most Cal State and UC schools have already been hit by this with fee hikes, which, I could go on for days about. But this blog isn’t really about that. It’s more about a big waste of state money on something that could easily be eliminated, sort of.

I read this article the other day in the Sacramento Bee, which is not a paper I regularly read, I mean, I am a native Southern Californian, after all. I just happened to stumble upon it one day whilst looking through various articles online. How I found the article is beside the point. The article is about the California High School Exit Exam, and why it pretty much fails.

Gerard Bracey says in his article:

“High school exit examinations don't work, and in some cases, they backfire. States don't gather information on the effects of the test because the political risk is too great. Imagine voters' outrage if a study found that a state had spent hundreds of millions on a test that did no good. “

I pretty much agree with him on that one. Being one of the first classes in California to actually have to pass the test in order to graduate, I thought it was kind of a joke. Nobody that I knew took the test even remotely serious, because let’s face it, we all probably could have passed the test in like 6th grade. Now that is somewhat of an exaggeration, they say that the English language arts section tests you at a tenth grade level, while the math section tests you at an eighth grade level. But really, if we were being tested at such low grade levels anyways, what is the reason for kids not passing?

Bracey mentions a study done at Stanford University about the effects of the CAHSEE no students. Their research found that students who placed in the bottom 25% of the test as tenth graders were more likely to drop out of high school. Now of course there were more findings, which are definitely interesting and should be looked into, if you’re interested.

But what this means to me is basically, the kids who couldn’t pass and dropped out/ couldn’t graduate are the same kids who would have probably dropped out regardless of whether or not they took the test. There really is no reason for anybody who deserves a high school diploma to not pass the test- and what it comes down to it whether or not the kid actually wants to graduate. I don’t think anybody goes into high school just with the intent to drop out, but there are certainly those who take their education a little more seriously than others.

Here is something else I found interesting

"Another group of researchers at the University of Minnesota tried to determine if state high school exit examinations made the diploma more meaningful to employers. The answer was a resounding "No." It didn't matter if the exit exam was relatively easy or tough. The Minnesota team concluded, "These examinations must be seen as a colossal waste of education and human resources, harmful to those whose educational attainments are curtailed by failing them and of little use to those who pass them."

Now, why on earth are we wasting money on this test when the benefits are almost nonexistent? If passing the test gives no added benefit to the student, and the students who don’t pass probably wouldn’t have graduated anyways, why do we continue to waste these students time, and frankly, our money that we desperately need right now. I think there is a much better use for those millions of dollars that are being spent each year on the CAHSEE. Hey, maybe those Cal State kids and UC kids could stop bitching about their fee hikes? Just an idea.