Report card

Students first try at passing the new state-mandated High School Exit

Exam showed great promise.

When results came back last week from the first-ever California High

School Exit Exam, the 75% of the freshmen in the Huntington Beach Union

High School District passed the English language arts portion, and 63%

cleared the mathematics section.

The State Board of Education ruled in June that students must score at

least 60% on the English language arts section and 55% on the mathematics

section to receive a high school diploma.

Last spring 3,427 students took the English language arts portion of

the test and 3,417 tested for mathematics. Those who didn’t pass will

take the test again during the current school year and each year until

they pass it.

Jerry White, director of curriculum development for the district, said

district officials are quite pleased with the overall test scores and

will now work to aid the 25% who didn’t pass the English languages arts

portion and the 37% who didn’t pass mathematics.

“Basically we are very happy with the results,” White said. “When we

first received the findings, we didn’t have anything to compare our

numbers to. We actually did better than we anticipated.”

The exam is the result of State Senate Bill 2 passed in the spring.

The purpose of the law is to make the schools and students accountable

for fulfilling the rigorous state standards.

State law requires that all students in California public schools must

pass the exam in order to receive a high school diploma, beginning with

the class of 2004, in addition to individual school district graduation

requirements.