Release: #06-29
March 28, 2006

Contact: Tina Jung
E-mail: communications@cde.ca.gov
Phone: 916-319-0818

SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today released the latest estimated passage rates of students in the class of 2006 who have taken the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). The class of 2006 is the first group of students required by law to pass the exam as a condition of graduation.

"Nearly 90 percent of this year's seniors have passed the California High School Exit Exam," O'Connell said. "This shows that students are acquiring the necessary knowledge and our high schools are focused on making sure students who graduate have the essential mathematics and English-language skills they will need to survive in the workplace or college."

Researchers from the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), an independent evaluator of the CAHSEE, analyzed the success rate on the test for the class of 2006 as of the fall 2005 administrations of the test. HumRRO estimates that 89 percent of the class of 2006 have passed both the mathematics and the English-language arts sections of the CAHSEE.

In raw numbers, an estimated 47,925 seniors have yet to pass both portions of the CAHSEE as of January. Passing the exit exam is one of a number of graduation requirements students must meet before they can earn a diploma.

HumRRO estimates that 93 percent of the state's high school seniors have passed the English-language arts portion of CAHSEE, and 92 percent passed the math portion. See the attached tables below.

There have been two administrations of the CAHSEE since last November — in February and March. The students who were successful in passing the CAHSEE in these administrations of the test are not included in this statewide estimate. There will be another administration of the exam in May. Updated statewide estimates of the students who have passed the exam will be released as they become available.

In 1999 then-Senator O'Connell wrote the law establishing a high school exit exam to ensure that every student had the skills and knowledge necessary for meaningful work or college and to raise expectations and results for California schools. Research conducted by HumRRO over the past six years indicates that CAHSEE is working as intended and has led to a major focus on intensive programs to prepare students with critical fundamental skills in English and math.

"Before the exit exam was established, graduation requirements varied widely from school to school, and students who could barely read or compute were handed a diploma," O'Connell said. "Far too many students, particularly poor, Latino, and African American students, were graduating woefully unprepared. I wrote the law creating the exit exam so that would never happen again."

O'Connell noted, however, that when compared to the statewide pass rate, a greater percentage of poor and minority students are still struggling to pass the CAHSEE. An estimated 20 percent of African American students, 31 percent of English learners, and 18 percent of economically disadvantaged students have yet to pass both portions of the exam.

"These new numbers shine a harsh light on an achievement gap that we must address," O'Connell said. "We need to work together to find successful interventions for these groups of students because these gaps are unacceptable. But, the answer is not to ignore the achievement gap by giving diplomas to under prepared students. The exit exam has been a powerful tool for restoring meaning to the California high school diploma. The skills measured by the exam are the least that we must expect of our students if we want them to survive and fulfill their potential in the demanding world beyond high school.

"To be clear, as I've said before, this does not mean that those students who have been unable to pass the exam will be denied a diploma indefinitely. It simply means that their basic education is not complete and they must continue their education in order to obtain the necessary skills to warrant receipt of a diploma."

O'Connell is sponsoring a package of legislation aimed at helping students pass the CAHSEE. The bills would provide additional summer and Saturday administrations of CAHSEE, extra funding for intensive remediation programs, independent study programs, and adult school programs for students. For a list of the legislation, please visit O'Connell's Legislative Agenda for 2006. For more information about CAHSEE, please visit California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE).

# # # #

Attachment

Estimated Number and Percentage of Class of 2006 Students
Passing the California High School Exit Examination as of January 2006

The independent evaluator for the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE), the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), estimates that 89 percent of the class of 2006 have passed both sections of the CAHSEE. This estimate includes students who passed the CAHSEE during the two fall administrations of the 2005-06 school year.

Table 1: Estimated Cumulative passing Rates by Subgroup:

Subgroup	Percentage Passed as of January 2006
All Students	89%
Female	89%
Male	88%
Asian	94%
Hispanic	82%
African-American	80%
White	96%
English Learner	69%
Economically Disadvantaged	82%

While several factors (e.g., lack of statewide student identifiers, drop outs, students leaving the state, students who are retained in a grade) made it impossible to match 100% of student records to derive exact passing rates, HumRRO believes its estimates to be accurate to within one or two percentage points of the actual passing rates.

Of the students who still need to pass the CAHSEE, many need to pass only one section of the exam, English-language arts or mathematics. The final three administrations of the CAHSEE this school year are in February, March, and May 2006.

Procedure:

As part of its analyses, HumRRO reviewed 94,804 grade 12 answer documents from the fall (September and November) 2005 CAHSEE administrations. The estimated number of students tested during this time was 92,909, after information was combined across multiple documents for the same student. Previous CAHSEE results (from 2004-05) were identified and merged for 65,130 of these students (70%). The remaining 27,779 students could not be matched due to the lack of a unique student identifier.

Tables 2, 3, and 4 provide the passing rate estimates as of January 2006, by school year, for students in the class of 2006. To account for fluctuations in the tested population, several adjustments were made to previous estimates of passing rates, including:

• Including 1,597 students from the fall 2005 administrations who were tested as sophomores in 2004, had not tested as juniors and had been dropped from the June 2005 counts.
• Removing 22,327 students in special education programs who had not passed the CAHSEE by June 2005 and are now exempted from having to pass for one year by the passage of Senate Bill 517.
• Adjusting counts by demographic group to reflect differences between students in the June 2005 file not found in the fall 2005 records and students in the fall 2005 file who were not matched to earlier records.

Except for differences related to the adjustments outlined above, the current estimates of CAHSEE passing rates are comparable to previous estimates provided by HumRRO. Please see HumRRO's Year 6 Independent Evaluation Report (September 30, 2005) for details about passing rates at the end of the 2004-05 school year.

Estimates of the number of students who have not yet passed both sections reflect the best available information about students who are still trying to pass the CAHSEE.

Table 2: Estimated Number and Percentage of Students in the Class of 2006
Passing Both CAHSEE Sections through the November 2005 Administration

Group	Grade 10	Grade 11	Grade 12	Not Yet Passed	Revised Total	Grade 10	Grade 11	Grade 12	Cumulative Passing Rate	Not Yet Passed
All Students	295,226	67,810	19,933	47,925	430,894	68.5%	15.7%	4.6%	88.8%	11.1%
Females	150,818	32,268	9,475	23,074	215,635	69.9%	15.0%	4.4%	89.3%	10.7%
Males	144,356	35,430	10,401	24,954	215,141	67.1%	16.5%	4.8%	88.4%	11.6%
Asian	34,709	4,583	1,383	2,757	43,432	79.9%	10.6%	3.2%	93.7%	6.3%
Hispanic	92,362	33,249	10,292	30,277	166,180	55.6%	20.0%	6.2%	81.8%	18.2%
African American	16,891	6,893	2,236	6,609	32,629	51.8%	21.1%	6.9%	79.8%	20.3%
White, non-Hispanic	133,650	18,921	4,786	5,948	163,305	81.8%	11.6%	2.9%	96.3%	3.6%
Economically Disadvantaged	88,918	32,524	9,702	29,714	160,858	55.3%	20.2%	6.0%	81.5%	18.4%
English Learner	24,783	17,032	5,996	21,376	69,187	35.8%	24.6%	8.7%	69.1%	30.9%
Special Education	7,993	6,675	--	--	14,668	--	--	--	--	--

Table 3: Estimated Number and Percentage of Students in the Class of 2006
Passing the CAHSEE ELA Section through the November 2005 Administration

Group	Grade 10	Grade 11	Grade 12	Not Yet Passed	Revised Total	Grade 10	Grade 11	Grade 12	Cumulative Passing Rate	Not Yet Passed
All Students	334,712	48,000	16,882	31,300	430,894	77.7%	11.1%	3.9%	92.7%	7.3%
Females	173,969	20,881	7,635	13,150	215,635	80.7%	9.7%	3.5%	93.9%	6.1%
Males	160,733	26,967	9,200	18,241	215,141	74.7%	12.5%	4.3%	91.5%	8.5%
Asian	35,817	3,980	1,279	2,356	43,432	82.5%	9.2%	2.9%	94.6%	5.4%
Hispanic	112,719	23,928	8,885	20,648	166,180	67.8%	14.4%	5.3%	87.5%	12.5%
African American	22,409	4,568	1,995	3,657	32,629	68.7%	14.0%	6.1%	88.8%	11.2%
White, non-Hispanic	144,083	12,343	3,703	3,176	163,305	88.2%	7.6%	2.3%	98.1%	1.9%
Economically Disadvantaged	108,305	23,488	8,366	20,699	160,858	67.3%	14.6%	5.2%	87.1%	12.9%
English Learner	31,817	14,759	5,614	16,997	69,187	46.0%	21.3%	8.1%	75.4%	24.6%
Special Education	12,245	2,423	--	--	14,668	--	--	--	--	--

Table 4: Estimated Number and Percent of Students in the Class of 2006
Passing the CAHSEE Math Section through the November 2005 Administration

Group	Grade 10	Grade 11	Grade 12	Not Yet Passed	Revised Total	Grade 10	Grade 11	Grade 12	Cumulative Passing Rate	Not Yet Passed
All Students	329,661	49,917	16,367	34,949	430,894	76.5%	11.6%	3.8%	91.9%	8.1%
Females	163,630	26,119	7,975	17,911	215,635	75.9%	12.1%	3.7%	91.7%	8.3%
Males	165,647	24,036	8,338	17,120	215,141	77.0%	11.2%	3.9%	92.1%	8.0%
Asian	38,542	2,802	1,018	1,070	43,432	88.7%	6.5%	2.3%	97.5%	2.5%
Hispanic	111,588	24,512	8,344	21,736	166,180	67.1%	14.8%	5.0%	86.9%	13.1%
African American	19,352	5,636	1,936	5,705	32,629	59.3%	17.3%	5.9%	82.5%	17.5%
White, non-Hispanic	140,771	13,879	3,974	4,681	163,305	86.2%	8.5%	2.4%	97.1%	2.9%
Economically Disadvantaged	109,237	23,024	7,510	21,087	160,858	67.9%	14.3%	4.7%	86.9%	13.1%
English Learner	39,855	11,611	4,582	13,139	69,187	57.6%	16.8%	6.6%	81.0%	19.0%
Special Education	11,819	2,849	--	--	14,668	--	--	--	--	--