Back to California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) - Hot Topics
Superintendent Jack O'Connell: As everyone here knows, we have looming for the first time in this state, the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). As a condition of receipt of a high school diploma, each student, in addition to their requisite number of course work being completed, number of credits, good attendance, and any community service that might be imposed, students will also have to pass a High School Exit Exam as a condition of receipt for that diploma.
I want to tell you, overall I'm pleased with where we are. I announced about ten days ago the results from our most recent administration of the High School Exit Exam where more than 20,000 students in the class of 2006 who have not yet passed the Exam, passed the English-language arts portion, and more than 19,000 more passed the math portion. So we are approaching the 85 percent figure in terms of the number of students for the class of 2006 who have passed the High School Exit Exam. We're right around 90 percent of our students have passed one section or the other. As I think you know, if you pass one section, you're done with that, and then you can focus on the one you've yet to pass. So overall I'm pleased.
That said, we need to do a better job with our subgroups. We'll talk more about our subgroups in a moment, but our subgroups continue to lag behind their peers, and that is a major concern of mine and I know it is for you as well.
I can certainly understand the concerns that many folks have who have yet to pass the High School Exit Exam. But I want to really present the rationale for the High School Exit Exam just quickly, and that is, we know we need to prepare students for the new global economy. The new economy really does require higher-level communication skills and higher-level skills in math in addition to being technologically proficient, which this office is really a model for throughout the state. We live in a global economy and it is our job to prepare students for jobs that we don't even know what they are going to be in the future and is more difficult than ever. A friend of mine involved in research was telling me about a month ago, a friend of yours from the Bakersfield area, County Superintendent Dr. Rider, was telling me that students in first grade today are going to have on average five careers, of which four of those careers are not yet even invented. If you look at the census forms from just a couple decades ago, 25 percent of the jobs today were not even listed. I was talking to a friend of mine in Intel recently and he said, as of December 31st, 90 percent of all of the goods that they shipped out the door were not even invented 365 days earlier. You can see the changing demands that we have in this economy. So I not only want our students to be able to survive, I want them to be able to thrive.
So please also remember that prior to our imposition of the high school exit exam, our graduation requirements really varied widely from district to district, and sometimes even the requirements from school to school. For some districts, we simply have a certification of seat time and no real mastery of fundamental skills arid no consistency, often times, from school to school, district to district. In my opinion, that's a disservice to students. To hand them out into this more competitive workplace with a diploma is simply setting them up for failure, and they won't have the skills to succeed.
Quite frankly, as I mentioned earlier, our subgroups are where we're going to need to focus more of our time, more of our collective energy, and wisdom. Far too many of our students in our subgroups are not doing as well as we would like. Too many students of color, too many African American students, and Latino students, students learning the English language, students from the disabled community, or special needs kids, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, students like me, whose parents never set foot on a college campus are not doing as well as many of their peers. We need to make sure that these students have the essential skills to succeed.
It's more important than ever that we focus on these subgroups. My friends, these are the subgroups that are going to make up our working economy. If we're going to remain the fifth largest economic engine in the world as a state, the solution to the secret to be able to have that competitive work force, that well engineered, that problem solving, analytical work force is, we have to focus on these subgroups. That's what led me to author this legislation when I was a member of the State Senate back in 1999. It was to try to get more help to many of these students. Too many students fell through the cracks. We've all heard that expression.This is an effort to help make sure we get more focus, more attention, and more resources to more of these students.
Now the law has been in place for six years, and yes it's been postponed a couple times already. But I believe the law's already working. It's working because we have higher expectations for all of our students. We're more accountable for all of our students. Look at the CST's (California Standards Test), the standardized test scores that I announced back in August. The biggest jump for the first time was in high school. It didn't get a lot of play or media attention. But for the first time, the biggest jump in our test scores this past year was in high school. I want to thank you for that. I attribute much of that success to the looming High School Exit Exam and the refocus on our education. I want to make sure that that focus, that attention, and those resources remain there for our high schools. I want that high school diploma to mean more in the future than it's meant in the past.
The business community is in strong support of the High School Exit Exam and the public is in support as well. I tell you as I go up and down the state meeting with superintendents, school board members, parents, teachers, paraeducators, and yes, even students, they are telling me that the looming High School Exit Exam has really focused more attention on acquiring the skills necessary for success in the work force.
You know, when you really stop and think about where we've come in just the last decade you've really done a lot. Think about the world class standards that we've adopted. Think about our accountability system. We don't have just one, we have two. The growth model that I prefer based on Academic Performance Index and then the federal AYP, Adequate Yearly Progress. Now we have our assessment instruments and our instructional materials aligned to those standards. So we've done a lot, and to me, the capstone of our accountability system is the High School Exit Exam. Some of my friends have told me it's the most significant high school reform measure in the last couple of decades It has clearly led to higher expectations for all students, higher standards, more focus, and more intensive development of programs to help. In my opinion, it would be a colossal mistake to walk away from the High School Exit Exam, or to postpone it or to dilute the Exam at this point.
Now after extensive review and after looking at possible alternatives to our High School Exit Exam for our non-special education students, I've come to the conclusion that no suitable alternative exists today for our students other than pass the High School Exit Exam. It's the only exam that's always been fully aligned to our standards and it's one that measures the minimum set of skills our students need for success. The only way that we can really be sure that our graduates have the critical skills needed in this global, competitive economy is to make sure our students pass the High School Exit Exam and make sure they pass regular course work. So the message today is that there'll be no substitute for this Exam. However, many options exist for our students to help our students pass the Exam and to prepare for the future.
Students do not have to be indefinitely denied a high school diploma simply because they do not pass the High School Exit Exam, once as a sophomore, twice as a junior, and three times as a senior. Failure to pass the High School Exit Exam simply means your public education is not complete. You need to continue through a fifth year in school, you need to continue through independent study, through adult education, through enrollment at community college, or through summer school. I'm committed to break down whatever barriers are there to guarantee that every student who wants to continue his or her education has a place in our public school system.
Now removing some of those obstacles will require legislation and we have already initiated a program to implement changes. Some of which we can do through the regulatory process, some will need the help of the State Board of Education that is working on this issue as well, and others we're going to need help through the legislative arena, and also with the Governor. Let me just touch upon some of the options that will help our students become better prepared for the work force and have more skills to succeed as adults.
We clearly want our students to seek additional, remedial, and supplemental educational opportunities. That's the current law. You're providing those courses. We want these students if they wish to attend high school for an additional year to have that choice. A year of independent study past the senior year, enrollment in a charter school, enrollment in adult education, enrollment in community college, like right here we have an outstanding community college, enrollment in county community schools, passage of the California high school proficiency exam, and a preparation for the GED. Like I volunteer and teach a class every summer in Sacramento on GED prep. I want to make sure that our students have greater access to summer school and I've already met with folks in the Governor's office to put in the request that the economy remain strong to lift some caps for adult education, lift some caps in the area of summer school, and to make a more seamless transition possible for even students who have yet to pass the High School Exit Exam to enroll in our community colleges.
We also need to make sure that Cal Grants are available to students if they choose to go to community college and have yet to pass the High School Exit Exam. I'm also going to be sponsoring legislation this year that will require our testing company to provide the High School Exit Exam this summer after summer courses are available. We're also looking at the possibility of having the exam administered on a Saturday as well. We're also in negotiations with the testing company, ETS, to try to get our last administration, the May date, the results back to you in a more timely manner so that if the student is successful in passing, they'll be able to still walk through the line, receive their diploma with their peers, with their classes, and of course, that important thing, go to Disneyland which is what some of the kids have asked me about.
So I'm going to tell you I'm aware and I've seen and I've visited many, many successful programs to help students prepare for this new economy. Beginning, actually I believe it's today at 5 o'clock, there will be on our Web page at the Department of Education, it's CAHSEE Remediation Compendium - California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE), you will see a list of best practices around the state that are available for preparation for the High School Exit Exam.
I have seen and visited some great before-school programs to help students learn the skills that they need. I've seen after-school programs. I've seen lunch time programs, intersession programs. Sac City had a program during its most recent winter break where they opened up a couple of their schools to 10th graders who have yet to take the High School Exit Exam, and they had 90 percent of their students come for three days in two weeks. A two week vacation that many of us had, they had 90 percent of their students come, 10th graders for three days, simply to focus on the skills they need for the High School Exit Exam came for half a day. I've seen a program at Bakersfield where they used some of their class size reduction money to focus on students who didn't know why the classes where there were only ten or twelve students and those are the ones who have yet to pass the High School Exit Exam as well. I've seen some good small groups. I've seen some groups utilizing technology, and some of which you're going to hear about in a minute. So I hope you'll take advantage of these suggestions and you'll take a look at some of the options. You know better than anyone whether or not some of these options will work for you.
And finally, I want to conclude my portion of the little forum here today to say that I know we still have skeptics. I know we still have some folks that say the High School Exit Exam ought not exist and we should just let every student walk and every student get a diploma and go back to status quo with business as usual. But I want to be very clear, I sincerely believe in every student in the California public school system. I know we know that every student can learn. We want every student to have a legitimate shot of success in this changing, demanding, quite frankly less secure economy that we have. We're not going to turn our backs on any student. We will leave no student behind. We want every student to be able to participate and to contribute to this global economy. We want every student to be prepared for success during the rest of the 21st century. I know that the students are going to meet us half way and I again want to applaud you for your commitment and your effort to helping provide that infrastructure, that educational infrastructure, so that these students can enjoy success.
I also want to make sure that all of our students take advantage of the courses and the opportunities that they have. I want to make sure these students make their senior year count and learn the skills that are necessary for success. If a student tries and tries and still can't master the skills necessary to pass the High School Exit Exam, we're still not going to turn our back on them. The students will be able to take the test as many times as they wish. There has been a myth that you can only take it six times and then you are forever not eligible again. We're going to insure you can continue to take the test. There will always be a place for you within our California public school system until you master the skills that are necessary to prepare you for your future in adulthood.
Let me now introduce the director of our High School Exit Exam program and division. She's put forth a little slide presentation, and all of this is going to be on our web page hopefully within the next week. I'm going to ask Dr. Lily Roberts to please come forward and make a few comments and do the slide presentation. Lily. Thank you very much everybody for coming. (Clapping)
Dr. Lily Roberts: I'm shorter, so I'll move this down a little bit (referring to the microphone). Hi everybody. This will be quick. The Superintendent has already hit on a lot of the good points that we have and I do not want to keep everybody here and be stuck in traffic the rest of the day. I've been involved with the CAHSEE since almost the beginning, not as long as the Superintendent but I've seen it go through many evolutions. I think it's a very good exam. It's obviously, according to our independent evaluator, a valid and reliable instrument as a high stakes exit exam. That's very important to me as someone who has a background in psychometrics. So I appreciate that about this exam and the hard work that's gone into it across the state that includes all the work that goes on in your schools and districts. I appreciate such a nice turn out today too because we have a small staff, but we work hard and it takes all of us to do this for the children of California. So thank you.
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I will try and speed through the presentation and get to the local remediation strategies. We're just starting to build a Compendium, as the Superintendent pointed out. Dr. Long told me about something in Riverside Coup that you put together. We look forward to including that in our Compendium as well. So I'll move right along.
Legislative Update: Basically about remediation funds. Last year there was Assembly Bill 128 that provided $20 million for grade 12 students this current year for the class of ‘06 who have not passed the CAHSEE. That was apportioned based on a percentage of the students who have not yet passed. So a lot of that money went to alternative programs and others. The Governor has pledged to put in another $20 million this year and I believe the focus in the new legislation will be more on comprehensive high schools and their needs for the students as well. Another part of that money was $50 million for special education students and that was sent out through ADA or the regular formula for special education funding, but again, for CAHSEE remediation for special education students.
A quick overview of the exam: Obviously we're down to the wire. By May and June, students will need to know whether or not they've passed this Exam and in many cases, districts are deciding whether or not they'll be able to walk the stage for graduation. The CAH SEE has no exemptions or opt-outs at this point. Beginning with grade 10, students have several opportunities, and yes it is a myth that they only have six, because currently they can take a fifth year of senior and take more opportunities with this Exam. They can go on to adult school, and the adult school, for those of you involved in adult school programs, we will be increasing the number of opportunities for adult school students to take this Exam from two to probably three The students may only take the test once, and then once they've passed it, they can't take it again.
We have upcoming test dates here. Right around the corner is the February test, the 7th and 8th This will be what we call our census administration for grade 10 students in February and March and the superintendent mentioned AYP. This is a very important time to try to make sure all the grade 10 students don't have the flu and they're in their classes taking the exam because CAHSEE is not only an exit exam, but it's also our grade 10 high school accountability measure for No Child Left Behind.
March exams are coming up and the deadline for ordering is this month. May exams are for make-ups for grade 10 students who were absent in February or March, so they can still be included in your AYP accountability. It's also grade 11 and 12 and adult students may also test in the May administrations. The Superintendent mentioned the summer administration. We've been negotiating with ETS, trying to figure out when can we fit in a July, August, probably late July. So for show of hands if we had a test late July, how would that work for your summer programs? Would that be good? Yes? Bigger hands, taller hands! Okay, wonderful. That will help because the Superintendent, that's his job in legislation, is to designate the testing dates so we're trying to narrow that down to meet most of your needs out there.
The exam content: I'll go through this rather quickly. We know it includes both English-language arts and mathematics. But what I'd like to point out is for English-language arts content, students only need to pass at a 60 percent correct. They have 72 items that they're scored on, plus one essay and they only need to get 60 percent of those correct. There are several strands that they are tested on, and what I want to point this out, because in terms of remediation, many of the programs are targeting in on how kids are doing.
They're either using the CAHSEE or their earlier CST scores to target remediation and they're looking at the strands and how students are doing. So that becomes a focus for improving those students passing rates. Mathematics: there are 80 math items, multiple-choice items on this exam. For mathematics, students only need to get 55 percent correct. We haven't ratcheted that up yet; I mean that is the intent over time with our rigorous standards that as we move forward that we would enhance those passing scores. That is the State Board's responsibility, but at this point that's where we stand. Again the math strands on the CAHSEE are primarily drawn from grade 7 standards and a little bit of algebra 1. There are 12 items on the test that are drawn from algebra 1 standards.
Remediation: The Superintendent already mentioned that since the beginning of CAHSEE, it's been incumbent upon districts to provide remediation through supplemental instruction through summer school for students at risk for not passing this Exam. I mentioned, given the grade 6 and 7 standards on math and algebra 1, the middle schools are as much a partner in this as high school students. The evaluator has shown that where articulation is occurring between middle and high schools that the students are passing at higher rates. The other part of the Education Code with the AB 128 funding, last year's monies, for the non-passers and intensive instruction in services. Those monies are very, very flexible. At the end of the year, the LEAs who receive those monies will need to report back to the Superintendent and identify two things: (1) the diagnostic assessment that you used, and (2) the number of students who have passed the CAHSEE.
A quick history: Several years ago we put together a remediation planning guide and worked with our regional assessment network folks from Riverside County and other counties across the state doing a training of trainers. Sharing information about how do you put into place strategies for remediating students at risk of not passing this test. Testing has been going on and then in October of 2005, the newest remediation funds were apportioned. Then in November, we convened a beginning work group to look at remediation again and look at that guide and bring it up to date and make it more of an implementing remediation guide. The starting point of that is the Compendium that will be up on the Web today, which includes abstracts from several projects that I'll talk about shortly.
We initially convened a remediation work group in mid-November. These folks were identified from the county office assessments, regional assessment network representatives, and others that we have talked to around the state. They came together and looked at diagnostic assessments that they were using, the target audiences that they were focused on, and so forth. We included that information in the Compendium. The expected outcomes in the short term are the Compendium and the abstracts and we're collecting more of those. In the next four to six months, we hope to have an implementation guide available and on the Web site for ease of use.
Preparation: One of the things noted by the remediation work group and others is the resources that the Department has free of charge already on our Web available to you (Program Resources - California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE)). There are guidelines for academic test preparation that includes the criteria by which we select our release test questions. Currently on the CAHSEE Web site, we have more than 150 release test questions. Districts and county offices around the state have used those release test questions and created practice tests. They're using those on a pre/post test basis in their remediation programs and finding those very valuable.
The other things they're finding valuable are study guides. And I'm hoping, I asked my niece, who's in grade 10, "Have you seen your study guides yet? Uh, no not yet." So I want to remind you that we pushed ahead and got the class of 08's study guides out there. We want to see these distributed and we're asking the Legislature and Department of Finance for more money to continue printing these and hopefully updating them a little more by adding more release test questions. You can always call our office for more copies (916-445-9449). However, we sent out an average of 30-40 percent and asked not only do you put one in the hand of every single grade 10 student, give them to your teachers, give them to your adult ed students and so forth to promote that.
Other resources we have on the Web are teacher's guides that I know teachers are already using. They include release test questions and guidelines about addressing the training in gaining regular standards-based instruction, as well as any remedial courses. Assistance packets are targeted at district testing coordinators, but it includes information for parents about this program. Whether or not it's a brochure, we have brochures in English and Spanish. Unfortunately we don't have the resources at the state to translate them to other languages. We provide information on reporting results on how to administer the test and so forth.
Finally noted on here is the matrix of test variations, accommodations and modifications. I want to point that out. It's a very important resource, it does cut across all the state's tests, not just CAHSEE, but CELDT, STAR, the CST's, and the physical fitness test. That's an important resource for your district testing coordinators, but it's also incumbent upon you to remember as you get sued, along with the rest of us, that special education students have to be allowed any and all accommodations or modifications or variations specified in their individualized education programs or Section 504 plans. I can't emphasize that enough.
So a quick overview of some of the remediation models: These are currently in place. You probably know of many in your own local areas across the state helping students. We can't endorse or evaluate these because we don't have the money to do that at the state, but they've been deemed to be locally successful. One of the key factors is that it's increasing the passing rates among students on the CAHSEE at the local level. So I think that's an important key given that's what we want these for.
Matrix: Again at 5 o'clock today, were hoping that they're working hard back in our Department to get these up on the Web site. (CAHSEE Remediation Compendium - California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE)) The matrix will include links to abstracts from about 15 programs right now and it's growing by the moment. That will be a valuable resource to folks who are doing remediation. They want to call their buddies and say “Hey, what are you doing with those release test questions that I might be able to adapt in my local situation?” Many programs as I noted are using the study guides. It's a free resource available to you so you don't have to go out and buy something. Although many programs are also using publisher's materials, I just can't say which. Although if you look at the abstracts and call the folks, they can tell you.
Target audiences: The programs out there target everything down to ninth grade through high school and adult ed. We have a variety in our Compendium that will be posted later today. It has everything from a small high school situation, as in Waterford to Elk Grove, which is a large growing urban southern Sacramento school district. Some of these also target the non-passers so they have very intensive instruction using, for example, the CAHSEE scores, and the strand information that we noted earlier. How are they doing in number sense? Or is it measurement geometry? We all talk about algebra being a problem, but what we see in our results is really it measurement geometry that's holding kids back. So we need to target remediation for the individual target audiences as well. There are programs like Desert Sands Unified that looks at English Learners and special ed students and provide intensive instruction for these special populations. Whittier Union High School also has a program. So these will be featured in the abstracts on our Web site.
The Compendium will include various models. The Superintendent mentioned some of these that he's been able to visit around that state already. There's small group instruction. There's individualized tutoring. All of which is paid for through AB 128. As I said it's very flexible funding. There are programs, after-school programs that are funded through the California Academic Partnership Program and a couple of those are featured in here. There are programs specific to special ed and English learners. And then there are some that look at, like Orange Unified, that looks at professional development for teachers and assisting them and looking at the diagnostic information from the CAHSEE and the CST's and how can they then better serve students; information for adult learners and how to target remediation for those students as well. In looking across these various programs; the diagnostic assessments, one of the key features for the early intervention is using the CST's and whether they're far below basic, or looking at, for the non-passers, how they did, as I've mentioned several times already the strand scores on the CAHSEE. And using practice tests, pre and post. For release test questions the study guides also have unit tests in them that are available and many of the publisher's materials, to go unnamed, also have tests included with them.
What I'd like to encourage you to do, and you can e-mail us at cahsee@cde.ca.gov, is if you know of programs, and I know Dave I've already taken his card, we want to encourage you to provide us with information that we can share with others and include in this Compendium. We have put together an online submission form so that you can just go right to the Web site and enter the basic information and send that to us so that we can quickly add it to our Compendium. You can always call the CAHSEE office (916-445-95449) about any questions of all the above and anything else that you can think of. I have a very crack team who do a hard job and work very well. Thank you very much. (Clapping)
Superintendent O'Connell's CAHSEE Forum video: CAHSEE Update, January 18, 2006 [http://www3.cde.ca.gov/video/cahseeupdate18jan2006.asx] (ASX; 31.54; 02-Mar-2006)
