Will California Use Common Core Tests as a High School Exit Exam?
Last week, California's state superintendent of education Tom Torlakson casually mentioned something that could have huge implications for students and teachers. At a meeting Torlakson held with parents and teachers, the Sacramento Bee reports, "Torlakson said his department is interested in embedding the California High School Exit Examination into the Smarter Balanced tests."
I contacted Superintendent Torlakson for clarification, but got no response. Someone with connections in the State Department of Education told me:
I think what they are talking about is whether or not to use a performance level on the whole Smarter/Balanced test or a subset of questions on the Smarter/Balanced as qualifying for graduation so they can eliminate the CAHSEE. The level would have to be set realistically (lower than NAEP proficiency which is like A's and B's) or it would be unfair to many students.
There has been talk recently of abandoning the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), and I think that would be a great thing to do. In 1999, the state of California joined others around the country in making it impossible to graduate high school without passing a high school exit exam. According to this analysis by Jo Anne Behm, the state spends $72.5 million a year directly for the
