Pasadena Unified Board Will Approve Graduation, Release of Diplomas to 2015 High School Seniors Who Did Not Take Exit Examinations

Pasadena’s Board of Education will meet Thursday night in a Special Meeting to approve the graduation and release of diplomas of high school seniors in the Class of 2015 who did not pass the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) because it was canceled when the state’s contract with the provider expired.

The exam’s cancellation threw thousands of high school seniors across the state into educational oblivion, possibly preventing their acceptance and enrollment in colleges or the military.

Reacting, the California State Legislature quickly passed an emergency remedy which Governor Jerry Brown signed Wednesday. The bill allows high school seniors who have completed their coursework to receive diplomas without having passed the CAHSEE.

“These students are stuck in a bureaucratic limbo through no fault of their own, and we are committed to helping them move forward,” said state Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) earlier this month.

Effective immediately, passing the CAHSEE will no longer be a requirement for students who have completed Grade 12 in June to receive their high school diplomas and continue on to college, according to amendments to the state’s Education Code.

The emergency bill, SB 725, was actually introduced in February by Sen. Loni Hancock and co-authored by Senators Kevin de Leon, Mark Leno and Carol Liu who represents District 25, which includes Pasadena.

Just last month, another senate bill by Liu, SB 172, succeeded in suspending the high school exit examination for the school year ending this year, and school years 2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.

Liu argued then that the CAHSEE has become “outdated and is measuring old standards.”

“The test, implemented in 1999, has not been updated for alignment to the Common Core Standards and is therefore aligned to standards that are no longer in place,” Liu had said.

Since its inception in 1999, the California high school exit examination has been at the center of debates between policymakers who believe that such a state-wide exam will reflect the state’s direction toward new academic content standards, and those who say that it would only highlight educational disparities tied to race, income and whether English is spoken in the home.

During the arguments on SB 725, Liu said, “Students who have not passed have no way to meet the graduation requirement. They should not suffer due to a lack of opportunity.”

Earlier this month, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson called on the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities to seek their assistance in helping students who are being denied entrance into college solely because they have not passed the CAHSEE.

“No student’s dream of a college education should be delayed because of an anomaly,” Torlakson said in a press release. “That’s why I’m working closely with college administrators and the Legislature to remedy the situation and help these students stay on track for college.”

Torlakson also reached out to the University of California and California State University systems to ask for their help.

The state of California pays Education Testing Service $11 million a year for the contract to administer the state exit exam. The contract has not been renewed after it expired in May.