California State Law on High School Exit Examinations
California State Law on High School Exit Examinations
By law, school districts must implement an exit examination to any and all 12th grade students. It is the school’s responsibility to have resources on the school’s site for students to access in preparation for the exit examination. The superintendent of each district will take it upon himself/herself to maintain this process. It is also under the superintendent that he/she shall study the appropriateness of other criteria by which high school pupils who are regarded as highly proficient but unable to pass the high school exit examination may demonstrate their competency and receive a high school diploma.
The exit examination will be based upon information gathered in field testing and annual administrations of the examination and shall include the analysis of the students’ performance, the examination effects that it has on college attendance, drop out rates, and graduation.
Any students’ whose first language is not English or who do not have a working knowledge of the English language; shall have the exit examination deferred for 24 months, where the student must be enrolled in courses in reading, writing, and comprehension in the English language for about six months. Without the proper instruction, if the student does not pass the exit examination, he or she will not be allowed to get a high school diploma and/or graduate.
The exit examination will be covered under the Budget Act and the superintendent will contribute funds for the examination. The state board of education will establish the funding for each of the examinations that will be administered based upon how much each examinations’ cost.
Finally, the high school exit examination will be offered to students in the 9th grade at the beginning of the school year, and each student will take the exit examination during the 10th grade school year. The student has the possibility to take the exit examination each succeeding school year thereafter, until the each of the sections of the examination has been completed and passed. The exit examination will be offered in all public high schools that have grades 9 through 12 on dates that are specially designated by the superintendent for the examination.
This law forces adolescents to improve their academic achievement above and beyond what they would normally try to strive for. Adolescents who were early maturers, especially girls, will have a difficult time with this added pressure. Early maturing females have a low self-esteem...