Release: #08-117
September 9, 2008

Contact: Pam Slater
E-mail: communications@cde.ca.gov
Phone: 916-319-0818

SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today released the latest results for the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE). The estimated percentage of students in the Class of 2008 who met the CAHSEE requirement as of the May 2008 administration is 90.2 percent. (See Table 1.)

"The California High School Exit Exam is an important tool to ensure that all students who get a diploma in California have at least a minimum level of skills in English-language arts and math that are critical to success in the increasingly competitive global economy," O'Connell said. "I am very proud of all the students who have met the exit exam requirement. I also urge any student who has yet to pass the test not to give up and to keep working to meet this important goal. Our schools will not give up on students who need additional help to master these critical skills." 

The Class of 2006 was the first graduating class that was required to meet the CAHSEE requirement. An estimated 3,589 students from the class of 2006 continued to take the CAHSEE from July 2007 through May 2008 and approximately 836 of those students met the requirement by May 2008. For the class of 2007 approximately 12,449 students continued to take the CAHSEE one year after completing their senior year. An estimated 3,267 students from the class of 2007 met the CAHSEE requirement by May 2008. (See Table 2.)

Students receiving special education services in the classes of 2006 and 2007 were entitled to an exemption from the exit exam requirement. The law authorizing that exemption expired and students with disabilities in the class of 2008 who expected to receive a diploma were required to take and pass the exit exam. Nearly fifty-four percent (53.8 percent) of students receiving special education services in the class of 2008 met the CAHSEE requirement as of May 2008. The graduation rate for students receiving special education services in 2007, when these students were exempt from meeting the CAHSEE requirement was 57.2 percent; the estimated graduation rate for students receiving special education services in 2008 is 54.4 percent.

"The California High School Exit Exam system is pushing our schools to ensure that more students who have disabilities are given maximum access to the general education curriculum and is pushing more students to reach for a higher bar of achievement," O'Connell said. "We must work harder to help students who receive special education services prepare for and pass the Exit Exam. Students with disabilities are entitled to take the Exit Exam with any accommodation or modification specified in their Individualized Education Programs, but, students in special education, just like all students, deserve a diploma that has value in the eyes of employers in our state. The Exit Exam requirement ensures that all students who earn a diploma have important basic skills that will help them succeed in the workforce."

In addition to students receiving special education services, a lower percentage of African American students, Latino students, and students learning the English language met the Exit Exam requirement than students who are white or Asian.

"The latest Exit Exam results yet again illustrate the persistent achievement gap that leaves too many of our African American and Latino students trailing behind their peers who are white or Asian," O'Connell said.

"As we saw last month when test scores for the Standardized Testing and Reporting Program were released, the CAHSEE results also show that the achievement gap can not be attributed solely to economic factors. I am pleased to see a slight narrowing of the gap among first-time test takers, but closing this gap entirely is the civil rights challenge of our time," he said. "It is a moral imperative and an economic imperative for our students and for our state economy."

The results show that a greater percentage of economically disadvantaged white students are passing the English-language arts (ELA) portion of the exit exam than African American/Black students who are non-economically disadvantaged. (See Tables 5 and 6.)

The same holds true in mathematics when comparing the results of white students who are economically disadvantaged to African American/Black or Hispanic/Latino students who are not classified as economically disadvantaged. For example, non-economically disadvantaged African American/Black sophomores in the Class of 2010 as first-time test takers scored 5.1 percentage points higher than the same subgroup of first-time test takers in the Class of 2008. Still, this increase to 68.7 percent for the mathematics portion of the CAHSEE is 7.4 percentage points below the passing rate of their economically disadvantaged white peers. (See Tables 7 and 8.)

While the achievement gap persists, there are some encouraging signs of accelerated achievement among our historically underperforming groups. Hispanic/Latino and African American/Black sophomore students are showing significant percentage gains in ELA passing rates for first-time test takers over the past year regardless of their economic status. (See Tables 5 and 6.)

In ELA, Hispanic/Latino sophomores in the Class of 2010 as first-time test takers scored 3.6 percentage points higher than the same subgroup of first-time test takers in the Class of 2008. (See Table 3.) For African American/Black students, the percentage of sophomores in the Class of 2008 passing the ELA portion of the test was 65.8 percent. The latest results show 68.5 percent of African American/Black sophomores in the Class of 2010 passed the ELA — a 2.7 percentage point increase over the past three years. (See Table 3.)

The estimated passing rates in ELA for all first-time test takers in 2008 (sophomores in the Class of 2010) show some improvement — 77.1 percent to 78.8 percent — a 1.7 percentage point increase over the past three years. (See Table 3.)

For the mathematics portion of the CAHSEE over this same period for first-time test takers, the estimated passing rate improved from 75.5 percent (when students in the Class of 2008 were sophomores) to 78.3 percent (for sophomores in the Class of 2010). (See Table 4.)

The CAHSEE is only one of the many requirements in California public schools needed for graduation. School districts also impose local requirements that must be met before students are allowed to graduate.

Students are required to take the CAHSEE for the first time in the tenth grade. More than 493,000 sophomores took the CAHSEE during the 2007-08 school year. Students who do not pass the test as tenth graders are given two more opportunities as juniors, and if they are not successful then, five more opportunities as seniors. Students who do not pass both portions of the Exit Exam by the end of their traditional senior year can continue to take the exam until they are successful in meeting both the ELA and the math requirement.

The data released today does not include results from the July 2008 administration of the test and the California Department of Education (CDE) does not yet have the benefit of a complete analysis of the data by the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), its independent evaluator of the CAHSEE program. HumRRO's analysis, which is expected in the fall, will give a more up-to-date picture of how California students are doing in meeting the cumulative Exit Exam requirement in both ELA and mathematics.

School-, district-, county-, and state-level results for the CAHSEE have been posted on the CDE Web site at California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) Results.

Back to top

# # # #

Attachments

California High School Exit Examination
(CAHSEE) Results

Table 1: Class of 2008 - Grade 10, Grade 11, and Grade 12 Estimated Cumulative Percentage Meeting the CAHSEE Requirement By Subgroup1

Demographic Subgroup	Grade 10 Class of 2008 Percentage Passed	Grade 11 Class of 2008 Percentage Passed	Grade 12 Class of 2008 Percentage Passed
All Students	65.1	78.0	90.2
Female	67.9	80.2	91.6
Male	62.4	75.7	88.8
Native American or Alaskan Native	61.0	75.3	89.1
Asian	82.5	89.0	95.5
Hispanic or Latino	52.4	69.0	85.8
African American or Black	46.3	62.7	80.1
White	80.5	89.3	95.8
Economically Disadvantaged	50.8	67.3	84.9
English Learner	27.0	49.2	72.8
Students Receiving Special Education Services	20.9	33.9	53.8

1 Source: HumRRO; The denominator for calculating the passing rates are calculated by adding the students in each class who passed CAHSEE in grades 10, 11, and 12 and those students who are still attempting to pass the CAHSEE in grade 12; students identified as grade 12 from the classes of 2006 and 2007 were excluded from the 2008 calculation.

Back to top

Table 2: Classes of 2006 and 2007 Estimated Cumulative Percentage Meeting the CAHSEE Requirement By Subgroup1

Demographic Subgroup	Class of 2006 Percentage Passed as of May 2006	Class of 2006 Percentage Passed as of May 2008	Class of 2007 Percentage Passed as of May 2007	Class of 2007 Percentage Passed as of May 2008
All Students	91.2	92.3	93.3	94.0
Female	91.6	92.7	93.6	94.4
Male	90.7	91.7	92.9	93.6
Asian	95.3	96.0	96.3	96.8
Hispanic or Latino	85.5	87.2	88.6	89.9
African American or Black	83.7	85.5	88.4	89.6
White	97.3	97.7	98.4	98.6
Economically Disadvantaged	85.7	87.2	88.3	89.5
English Learner	76.0	78.5	77.1	79.5
Students Receiving Special Education Services2	47.8	48.8	48.8	49.6

1 Source: HumRRO; The denominator for calculating the passing rates are calculated by adding the students in each class who passed CAHSEE in grades 10, 11, and 12 and those students who are still attempting to pass the CAHSEE in grade 12.

2 Students in special education programs who had not passed the CAHSEE were excluded from all rows of the table except the last row. Prior to 2008 students in special education were exempt from the CAHSEE requirement.

Back to top

English-Language Arts

Table 3: Comparison of Passing Rates for First-Time Test Takers (Grade 10) in the Classes of 2008, 2009, and 20101

Demographic Subgroup	Class of 2008 Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Class of 2009 Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Class of 20102 Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Change in Percent Passed Classes of 2009 to 2010	Change in Percent Passed Classes of 2008 to 2010
All Students	77.1	76.6	78.8	2.2	1.7
Female	81.6	81.2	82.9	1.7	1.3
Male	72.7	72.1	74.9	2.8	2.2
American Indian or Alaskan Native	77.2	76.0	77.2	1.2	0.0
Asian	86.6	86.5	88.4	1.9	1.8
Pacific Islander	75.4	75.6	79.1	3.5	3.7
Filipino	89.0	88.9	89.8	0.9	0.8
Hispanic or Latino	66.4	66.2	70.0	3.8	3.6
African American or Black	65.8	65.7	68.5	2.8	2.7
White	89.8	89.4	90.4	1.0	0.6
Economically Disadvantaged	64.9	64.6	68.5	3.9	3.6
Non-Economically Disadvantaged	88.5	88.2	89.5	1.3	1.0
Students Receiving Special Education Services	34.6	33.0	35.5	2.5	0.9
English Learner	38.1	36.0	40.0	4.0	1.9

1 Percent passing rates equals the number of students passing CAHSEE divided by number of students taking CAHSEE.

2 Subgroup data are estimates; school districts have the opportunity to make demographic data corrections.

Back to top

Mathematics

Table 4: Comparison of Passing Rates for First-Time Test Takers (Grade 10) in the Classes of 2008, 2009, and 20101

Demographic Subgroup	Class of 2008 Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Class of 2009 Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Class of 20102 Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Change in Percent Passed Classes of 2009 to 2010	Change in Percent Passed Classes of 2008 to 2010
All Students	75.5	75.8	78.3	2.5	2.8
Female	76.1	76.2	78.6	2.4	2.5
Male	75.0	75.5	78.0	2.5	3.0
American Indian or Alaskan Native	72.9	72.5	75.8	3.3	2.9
Asian	92.1	92.7	94.1	1.4	2.0
Pacific Islander	73.5	75.1	79.0	3.9	5.5
Filipino	88.1	89.0	90.1	1.1	2.0
Hispanic or Latino	65.1	65.7	69.7	4.0	4.6
African American or Black	57.1	58.4	61.9	3.5	4.8
White	87.9	88.2	89.3	1.1	1.4
Economically Disadvantaged	64.3	65.0	69.0	4.0	4.7
Non-Economically Disadvantaged	86.2	86.5	88.1	1.6	1.9
Students Receiving Special Education Services	32.5	32.3	35.3	3.0	2.8
English Learner	47.6	46.5	50.0	3.5	2.4

1 Percent passing rates equals the number of students passing CAHSEE divided by number of students taking CAHSEE.

2 Subgroup data are estimates; school districts have the opportunity to make demographic data corrections.

Back to top

English-Language Arts

Table 5: Percent Passing for Economically Disadvantaged First-Time Test Takers (Grade 10) By Ethnicity

Ethnicity	Class of 2008 Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Class of 2009 Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Class of 2010* Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Change in Percent Passed Classes of 2009 to 2010	Change in Percent Passed Classes of 2008 to 2010
American Indian or Alaskan Native	65.4	64.9	66.1	1.2	0.7
Asian	76.6	76.1	79.6	3.5	3.0
Pacific Islander	66.9	67.4	72.4	5.0	5.5
Filipino	80.1	82.3	83.7	1.4	3.6
Hispanic or Latino	62.0	61.9	66.5	4.6	4.5
African American or Black	59.1	58.6	62.1	3.5	3.0
White	75.9	75.0	77.2	2.2	1.3

*  Subgroup data are estimates; school districts have the opportunity to make demographic data corrections.

Table 6: Percent Passing for Non-Economically Disadvantaged First-Time Test Takers (Grade 10) By Ethnicity

Ethnicity	Class of 2008 Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Class of 2009 Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Class of 2010* Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Change in Percent Passed Classes of 2009 to 2010	Change in Percent Passed Classes of 2008 to 2010
American Indian or Alaskan Native	84.6	83.4	84.5	1.1	-0.1
Asian	92.8	92.6	93.5	0.9	0.7
Pacific Islander	80.7	81.0	83.5	2.5	2.8
Filipino	91.5	90.7	91.6	0.9	0.1
Hispanic or Latino	75.4	75.4	78.1	2.7	2.7
African American or Black	71.9	72.8	75.1	2.3	3.2
White	92.3	92.1	93.0	0.9	0.7

*  Subgroup data are estimates; school districts have the opportunity to make demographic data corrections.

Back to top

Mathematics

Table 7: Percent Passing for Economically Disadvantaged First-Time Test Takers (Grade 10) By Ethnicity

Ethnicity	Class of 2008 Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Class of 2009 Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Class of 2010* Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Change in Percent Passed Classes of 2009 to 2010	Change in Percent Passed Classes of 2008 to 2010
American Indian or Alaskan Native	60.9	60.3	66.0	5.7	5.1
Asian	85.9	86.5	89.4	2.9	3.5
Pacific Islander	65.4	68.0	73.1	5.1	7.7
Filipino	80.3	83.1	84.9	1.8	4.6
Hispanic or Latino	62.0	62.5	67.1	4.6	5.1
African American or Black	49.9	51.3	55.4	4.1	5.5
White	73.0	74.2	76.1	1.9	3.1

*  Subgroup data are estimates; school districts have the opportunity to make demographic data corrections.

Table 8: Percent Passing for Non-Economically Disadvantaged First-Time Test Takers (Grade 10) By Ethnicity

Ethnicity	Class of 2008 Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Class of 2009 Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Class of 2010* Percent Passed as 10th Graders	Change in Percent Passed Classes of 2009 to 2010	Change in Percent Passed Classes of 2008 to 2010
American Indian or Alaskan Native	80.2	80.5	82.2	1.7	2.0
Asian	95.9	96.3	96.8	0.5	0.9
Pacific Islander	78.4	79.8	82.8	3.0	4.4
Filipino	90.3	90.7	91.6	0.9	1.3
Hispanic or Latino	71.4	72.3	75.6	3.3	4.2
African American or Black	63.6	65.4	68.7	3.3	5.1
White	90.6	90.8	91.9	1.1	1.3

*  Subgroup data are estimates; school districts have the opportunity to make demographic data corrections.

Back to top

California High School Exit Examination:

Summary of 2007-08 Results

Background

• State law authorized the development of the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE), which students in California public schools would have to pass to earn a high school diploma.
• The CAHSEE is designed to ensure that all high school graduates have achieved a solid foundation of knowledge and skills in English-language arts and mathematics, based on state-adopted content standards.
• Current law specifies that all public high school students must take the CAHSEE for the first time in grade ten. Students who do not pass the CAHSEE in grade ten will have two opportunities in grade eleven and five opportunities in grade twelve to pass the exam.
• Exemptions for special education students in the class of 2007 expired December 31, 2007.

Summary of CAHSEE Results

• A summary of statewide student performance on the CAHSEE is provided below. Note that while final data are available for years 2004 through 2007, the results reported for 2008 are preliminary. In the fall, the CAHSEE independent evaluator, Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), will provide the CAHSEE results by grade in its annual report.

Class of 2008 - Grade 10, Grade 11, and Grade 12 Estimated Cumulative Percentage Meeting the CAHSEE Requirement By Subgroup (Table 1)

• The overall passing rate as of May 2008 for the class of 2008 was 90.2 percent. (See Table 1.)
• Over half of the students with disabilities have met the CAHSEE requirement. (See Table 1.)
• Approximately 73 percent of the English learners met the CAHSEE requirement by the end of their senior year. (See Table 1.)

Classes of 2006 and 2007 Estimated Cumulative Percentage Meeting the CAHSEE Requirement By Subgroup (Table 2)

• Students from the Classes of 2006 and 2007 continue to take the CAHSEE after their grade 12 year. (See Table 2.)
• Students are returning to take the CAHSEE but are meeting the CAHSEE requirement with limited success. (See Table 2.)

Comparison of Passing Rates for First-Time Test Takers (Grade ten) in ELA and Mathematics (Tables 3 and 4)

• Passing rates in both English-language arts (ELA) and mathematics for first-time test takers in 2008 (class of 2010) show some improvement as compared to 2006 (class of 2008). (See Table 3.)
• The passing rate on the ELA portion of the CAHSEE for grade ten students in 2008 (class of 2010) was 78.8 percent. This was a modest improvement from the results for grade ten students in 2006 (class of 2008) whose passing rate was 77.1 percent. (See Table 3.)
• ELA Passing rates for grade ten students in 2008 (class of 2010) for the major reporting subgroups have shown some improvement ranging from increases of approximately 1.0 to 4.0 percentage points when compared to grade ten students in 2006 (class of 2008). (See Table 3.)
• For the mathematics portion of the CAHSEE the passing rate in 2008 (class of 2010) for first-time test takers was 78.3 percent, a 2.8 percentage point increase over the results for first-time test takers in the class of 2008. (See Table 4.)
• Changes from 2006 (class of 2008) to 2008 (class of 2010) in the mathematics passing rates for subgroups of grade ten students ranged from an increase of 4.6 percentage points for Hispanic/Latino students and an increase of 4.8 percentage points for African American/Black students. (See Table 4.)

Comparison of Percentages of Economically Disadvantaged and Non-Economically Disadvantaged Students Passing the ELA and Mathematics By Ethnicity (Tables 5 through 8)

• The economically disadvantaged students by ethnicity data displayed in Table 5 for ELA have generally shown greater increases from the class of 2008 to the class of 2010 in passing rates than their non-economically disadvantaged cohorts displayed in Table 6.
• The economically disadvantaged students by ethnicity data displayed in Table 7 for mathematics have generally shown greater increases from the class of 2008 to the class of 2010 in passing rates than their non-economically disadvantaged cohorts displayed in Table 8.
• The Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, and African American/Black subgroups have shown the greatest percentage point gain in ELA passing rates over the past year regardless of economic status. (See Tables 5 and 6.)
• The American Indian or Alaskan Native, Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, and African American/Black subgroups who are economically disadvantaged have shown over a 4.0 percentage point gain in mathematics passing rates over the past year. (See Tables 7 and 8.)

Back to top