By Denise Hertzog Pursche.

In Part 1 of Why High School Exit Exams, Not Students, Are Worthless, I talked about my personal experience taking and failing the high school exit exam and what impact that had on my life. Every percentage point denied a diploma represents many, many people – people like me.

There’s a lot of kids graduating that probably shouldn’t be” seems to be the sentiment widely held by a lot of parents, business leaders, law makers, and industry folk. Some folks even say a diploma is “worthless”, or “valueless”, without a passing test score to deem it worthy. This attitude is perhaps most apparent as noted by Stephen Frank from the Capitol Review:

Last week the legislature bestowed diplomas on 5,000 students, regardless if they were qualified, passed tests or passed their courses—the politicians gave them a worthless diploma. Now diploma’s issued in 2015 will be suspect—all of them, since no employer will be told which are real and which were given out like free packs of cigarettes at the Fair.

Does the evidence support this charge?

As many as 10-20 years ago, or more, many states began to consider and adopt high school exit exams to ensure students were mastering curriculum and standards. In recent years with the push for national and more rigorous standards, as well as a better trained work force, the focus has changed to include “college and career readiness”.

The Center for Education Policy 2012 report indicates a high school exit exam is a necessary component for students to meet graduation requirements and receive a diploma in more than half of all states:

This report finds that 31 states required high school exit exams in the 2011-12 school year (up from 26 in 2009), and public schools in those states enroll 83 percent of the nation’s students of color and more than three-quarters of the country’s low-income pupils.

Listen to Jack Jennings, President, the Center on Education Policy, who gives the low down on how high school exit exams disparately impact students of color and economically disadvantaged students.

In California, Governor Brown did indeed sign SB 172, allowing the state to suspend the high school exit exam in the 2015-2018 school years. With the signing of this law, Governor Brown suspended passing the California State High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) as a graduation requirement.

Then, in a subsequent action, “Lawmakers added a provision to retroactively grant diplomas to any student who met all graduation requirements, except for passing the exit exam.” And, in the meantime, “lawmakers and educators will determine if the state should create a new version of the test that’s aligned with the Common Core State Standards, or eliminate it altogether.”

The law, SB 172, still requires student to pass all course work and only suspend the English and Math portions of the California High School Exit Exam (CASEE) for 3 years until a new and better exam (e.g., a more reliable and valid test), can be developed based on the Common Core State Standards.

The law, as enacted, states:

60851.5.
Notwithstanding Section 60851, the administration of the high school
exit examination, and the requirement that each pupil completing grade
12 successfully pass the high school exit examination as a condition of
receiving a diploma of graduation or a condition of graduation from high
school, shall be suspended for the 2015–16, 2016–17, and 2017–18 school
years.

The law further states:

60851.6.
(a) Notwithstanding Section 60851 or any other law, the governing board
or body of a local educational agency, and the department on behalf of
state special schools, shall grant a diploma of graduation from high
school to any pupil who completed grade 12 in the 2003–04 school year or
a subsequent school year and has met all applicable graduation requirement other than the passage of the high school exit examination.

As reported by Ed Source, Inc., “About 249,000 students, or 6 percent of test­-takers, could not pass the test before the end of their senior year since it became a graduation requirement for the class of 2006.

It’s unclear how many of these students did not receive diplomas only because they failed the test, and how many wouldn’t have graduated anyway because they also lacked enough credits, or did not meet grade requirements.

Students who failed the exit exam but met all other graduation requirements were often awarded certificates of achievement, which are diploma-like documents. The students were encouraged to enroll in community colleges, which do not require diplomas for admission, or to work toward a GED diploma equivalency certificate.

Still, many were prevented from applying to four­-year colleges, vocational training programs, and military service, or for jobs that required a high school diploma.”

It is important to note: “given California’s size, even a small percentage of students failing the tests translates into large numbers of actual students. Last year, for example, in the last year, 4.5 percent of high school students couldn’t pass the test by the end of their senior year. That amounts to nearly 20,000 seniors.”

There are many reasons I believe an “exit exam” should not be required to graduate high school and some of those reasons are noted by PACE (Policy Analysis for California Education), in a 2009 Policy Brief, titled, “Effects of California High School Exit Exam on Student Persistence, Achievement and Graduation”:

“In this policy brief Sean Reardon and Michal Kurlaender summarize the findings from a study investigating the impact of the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) on California’s lowest performing students.”
Their findings?

“The CAHSEE requirement has had no positive effects on students’ academic skills” and “the introduction of the CAHSEE requirement had a large negative impact on graduation rates for students in the bottom quartile of achievement. The impact was especially large for minority students and for girls. On average, graduation rates were 19 percentage points lower among bottom-quartile female students who were subject to the CAHSEE requirement, but only 12 points lower among male students.

The graduation rate for minority students in the bottom achievement quartile declined by 15 to 19 percentage points after the introduction of the exit exam requirement, while the graduation rate for similar white students declined by only 1 percentage point. The analyses further suggest that the disproportionate effects of the CAHSEE requirement on graduation rates are due to large racial and gender differences in CAHSEE passing rates among students with the same level of achievement.”

However, another report by the Center on Education Policy highlighted in an interview by Jennifer González (The Chronicle of Higher Education), Shelby McIntosh, the author of the report and a Research Associate at the Center on Education Policy, “said the results were not surprising, given the growing recognition that we are sending too many students into postsecondary education unprepared.”

Gonzalez also notes: “Very few states reported that their exit-exam scores were used by colleges for “admission, placement, or scholarship decisions,” which call into “question whether linking exit exams with college-and career-readiness standards will actually yield better alignment between secondary and postsecondary education, Ms. McIntosh said.””

It seems almost every state has an exit exam of some sort. Many use either a combination of English and Math proficiency and some states use one or the other as worthy of granting a diploma. However, it seems worthy to ask:

What is the goal of an education? What is the goal of graduating? Is it to encourage students to achieve basic competency in core subjects? Is it to make the high school diploma more meaningful? Or, is it to ensure that kids graduating from high schools are both “college and career ready”? And, even if the military is the goal of the student, not passing an exit exam, would deny them entry to the military. How can this be good for students?

If these are indeed worthy goals, and I would concur they are, then how do you ensure that kids meet these requirements without harming the most at risk students, those who are English Language Learners, Foster kids, or even kids from below the 50% of median income? And, for those of you who say the exit exam must remain, and if a student can’t pass the exit exam then they can take the GED, please read this report.

And, it seems this is where the problem lies as noted in New America Policy Education Brief, The Case Against Exit Exams: “regardless of the difficulty of states’ exit exams over the years, they all shared common attributes. Each iteration was premised on two basic goals. First, an exit exam would increase student achievement overall by setting a clear standard for high school learning and by motivating students to earn the more meaningful, and valuable, diploma. Second, an exit exam would improve students’ postsecondary success by providing a clear signal to employers or colleges that graduates possessed valuable skills.”

How to determine, or define competency? What is necessary of a student in order to guarantee success, even if there are no guarantees in life, but instead, at least have some assurances of students’ abilities and competencies?

Does it seem to you our lawmakers, education reformers, and industry folks want a guarantee? I just say, duh! But, nonetheless, that’s what they are asking for — a guarantee, even if it’s unreasonable, a guarantee such as this is also a false guarantee.

I do say the goals between well-educated, or educated well enough (as I was), and “college and career ready” are not at odds. However, I ask, is the demand of an exit exam at odds with the ability of the student to move onto adulthood, unharmed by education practices, a worthy goal? And, I say, yes it is.

Yes, some corporations and parents are trying to say, using a test score to determine worthiness of a high school diploma is a worthy goal, but I ask, at what cost and to whom? Doing the work, getting the grades, doing the time. Those things are not worthy? No it seems, those who tout a passing test score for an exit exam are saying, only a passing score on an high school exit exam are worthy of a student’s success.

If a test score is the only factor, or the last factor of worthiness, then it seems, we’ve truly lost sight of what an education should be. For many students high school is a time for growing up, taking note of skills and abilities. Learning about the world. Becoming an adult. This is not rocket science. A passing test score should not be the only worthy, or last goal for our students to obtain a high school diploma. Only life’s journey is worthy and to truly know thy self and move onto to adulthood unimpeded by a passing score on a high school exit exam. This is worth consideration.

Since we know “poverty is the arbiter of test scores”, the lower your income, the less likely you pass a standardized test. I just ask, how can it be fair to require an exit exam for any student, especially for those in the lower 50% of parental income? This is notably true when we know, I say, yes, we know, exactly how standardized test scores are cut along poverty lines.

True, ending poverty is another worthy goal. Though I believe it is a goal that is impossible to reach, and all the more difficult in the real world. It is an ideal worthy of reaching and we should do our best to try to reach it, but you see, as soon as you raise one student out of poverty, there are more to follow.

I also believe that schools and teachers meet the child where they are, not necessarily where they’d like them to be and for that reason, the exit exam is not the answer to the worthy goals mentioned above. Sure, I want to end poverty, I really do. And, yes, I want students prepared, but, I’m a bit of a realist and understand that life is a bell shaped curve, with all the foibles of the real world too.

Yes, it seems, you’ll always have some kids in poverty, no matter what you do. So, ending poverty might raise scores, but it will not answer the question about exit exams while awaiting the end of poverty. In the meantime the question about an “exit exam” still remains.

When thinking about an exit exam, what is the result for a child in poverty? Fermin Leal writes:

Critics have said there is little evidence the exam alone helped boost achievement of at-risk students. Some have said that other accountability systems implemented at the same time, including the federal No Child Left Behind Act and the state’s Academic Performance Index, contributed more to pressuring schools to improve achievement among all student groups. Instead, critics said, there is significant evidence the exit exam prevented many English learners, minority and low-income students from earning a high school diploma.

For those of us with children in the 50% above median parental income level, those children will likely pass these tests (which may be set to fail many kids with high set scores) and those at the 50% below income level will fail because the set scores are set to fail. Since these standardized test are set to fail, let’s say 70% of all students, or even 50%, how can you support a test used to fail kids and deny them their diploma?

As Anne Hyslop, a policy analyst for New America says, “If states don’t modify their use of exit exams, many students will either be unable to pass them or the temptation will be to lower the bar”.

The saga of the American students’ “high school exit exam” isn’t over, at least not yet. It will only be over if parents demand removal of the high school exit exam as a requirement to receive a high school diploma. When we do, perhaps we can return to what an education is supposed to be about, a time for growing up, not yearning for a passing score on an exit exam.

As usual, be careful for what you ask for, you just might get it.

This seems most apropos for our lawmakers and business leaders.

What is the quote?

“Do. No. Harm.”

Yes, our students are worthy.

However, high school exit exams are worthless.

Other Resources: 

Are High School Exit Exams Necessary? More States Are Saying No. Foxnews.com, April 3, 2015.

California Laws: On January 1st, Student Won’t Have to Pass High School to Receive Diploma. Breitbart.com, December 27, 2015.

Common Core Ruins the Lives of the Poor, Unskilled Americans by Making GED Needlessly Complex. The DC, January 2015.

Every Time Foster Kid Move, They Lose Month of Academic Progress. The Atlantic, February 28, 2014.

Conservatives for Exit Exams: A lesson in high stakes testing. Stop Common Core in Washington State, December 30, 2015.

Diane Ravitch’s Blog: Who Set the Passing Marks for the Common Core Tests? A Design for Failure. National Education Policy Center, September 10, 2015.

Foster Youth Switch Schools at Huge Rate. Ed Source, Inc., April 2013.

Governor Signs Bill Allowing Diplomas for Students Who Failed Exit Exam. Ed Source, Inc., October 2015.

High School Exit Exams Fuel School to Prison Pipeline. Take Part, July 11, 2013.

Moments That Change Lives. Foster-A-Dream.Org., 2012.

Policy Matters: What Percentage of State Polled Prison Inmates were Once Foster Care Children. California Senate, and the Office of Research, December 2011.

Programs help foster youth achieve college success. USA Today News, January 1, 2012.

SAT Scores and Family Income. The New York Times, August 27, 2009.

The Case Against Exit Exams. New America Education Policy Brief, July 24, 2014.

The Counterfeit High School Diploma. The Editorial Board. New York Times, December 31, 2015.

The Problem with Using the ACT as the High School Exit Exam. Take Part. February 2014.

This law California just passed may signal the end of our republic. Allen B. West, blog post, December 28, 2015.

Under half of students projected to test well. Ed Source, Inc., November 17, 2015.

Why Graduation Tests/Exit Exams Fail to Add Value to High School Diplomas. Fair Test. National Center for Fair and Open Testing. May 2, 2008.

Denise Hertzog Pursche has been married for the past 15 years to her wonderful husband Daren.  After spending many years in the corporate world as a Consultant, Denise currently is a stay-at-home mom and considers herself a late bloomer.  A mother of 3 school age children, 3rd grade twins (Girl/Boy) and a 7th grade daughter, Denise became interested in education reform movement when she started seeing homework changes due to Common Core State Standards.  Over the last three to four years, Denise has been researching and reading about K-12 education reform movement.  Denise completed her Master’s Degree at San Jose State University, graduating in 1996, and completed an undergraduate degree from Arizona State University in 1988.