District defends exit test

Administrators in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District expressed support for the California High School Exit Exam on Tuesday, even as the fate of the test teetered in a Northern California courtroom.

On Monday, an Alameda County Superior Court judge issued a tentative ruling against the exam, which, beginning this year, seniors must pass to graduate from high school. Judge Robert B. Freedman was initially expected to make a final ruling Tuesday, but put off his decision until later in the week.

While the courtroom debate continued in Oakland, the Newport-Mesa school district was busy offering the exit exam; Tuesday and today were scheduled testing dates. The test-takers were not seniors, but sophomores who had missed taking the exam earlier. Still, assessment director Peggy Anatol said the district would continue with business as usual.

“We’ve held the position that the California High School Exit Exam is a way to preserve the integrity of the high school diploma,” she said.

Supt. Robert Barbot said he would aim to keep the exit exam as a Newport-Mesa requirement, even if the state no longer made it mandatory.

“If it became optional, we already have more high school graduation requirements than most districts,” he said. “I will still recommend to the board that as long as it’s legal, we would proceed with requiring it. Having a standard is good for all of our kids.”

The current debate over the exit exam began when a San Francisco lawyer filed on behalf of a group of Bay Area students, saying that the test was unfair to minority students and others who are handicapped by poor schools.

After the November results came back in February, Newport-Mesa had 155 seniors who had yet to pass the exit exam. Nearly all of those, according to Anatol, were either English-learners or in special education. The results from the March testing date ? the last for seniors before graduation ? are expected toward the end of this month.

The state Senate gave many special-needs students a reprieve in January with a bill enabling them to graduate without passing the exit exam, provided that they met other goals. Anatol said 27 Newport-Mesa students were currently eligible to graduate under those conditions.