Since 2006, all California high school students have been required to pass the California High School Exit Exam, or CAHSEE, before they could receive their diploma. The exam tests students’ knowledge and competency in math and English. However, with the change over to Common Core standards, the testing was abruptly canceled, which meant some students would not receive their diploma because they had not yet passed the exam. On Wednesday, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that scraps the requirement for about 10 seniors in the Morongo Unified School District Class of 2015. Managing editor Tami Roleff talked with Morongo Unified School District Superintendent Tom Baumgarten about how the change would affect local students in the class of 2016…
Morongo Unified School District Superintendent Tom Baumgarten said that if the CAHSEE requirement is dropped, it would affect a very small number of local students who haven’t passed the test yet. “Our schools have worked really hard, so the percentage is getting lower every year, and it’s probably less than 10 percent of the entire senior class would have this issue.” In fact, the cancellation of CAHSEE would affect 29 seniors—out of a total of 482 in the entire senior class of 2016—at Yucca Valley High, Twentynine Palms High, and Black Rock High schools. A bill that would eliminate the requirement for current students is expected to be passed when the legislature comes back from break. “Students who have currently not passed it would not be held to that graduation requirement. You can see the conundrum; they won’t be able to take it any longer. Baumgarten says dropping the CAHSEE requirement would be good news for those 29 Morongo Basin seniors. “They would be able to graduate without taking the CAHSEE. ”
STATE SUSPENDS EXIT EXAM REQUIREMENTS FOR HIGH SCHOOL
