Local schools fare well in inaugural examinations
By John Loesing
Acorn Staff Writer

While Los Angeles County turned in one of the worst performances in the state on the inaugural high school exit exam, local high students bucked the trend and posted scores that were among the best.

In Las Virgenes Unified School District, 97 percent of the freshmen that took the test last spring passed the English-language arts portion and 90 percent passed the mathematics portion.

Agoura High School and Calabasas High School ranked second highest in the county behind Charter Oak High School. The two local schools had comparable scores, but in each case the girls did better in English and the boys had higher scores in math.

Los Angeles County ranked 57th of 58 counties. Statewide, only 64 percent of California’s ninth graders passed the language arts exam while 44 percent passed the math.

"These results hold no surprises," said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin. "We must remember that this test is the toughest of its kind in the nation and that many of these freshmen had not yet taken the courses covered by the exam, such as algebra."

Beginning with the class of 2004, all students must score at least 60 percent on the English-language arts section and 55 percent on the mathematics section to receive a high school diploma. The state Board of Education didn’t decide until June what the cutoff points would be.

"It’s been a moving target … they said that would rise over time, that they were starting at that level," said Marilyn Lippiatt, superintendent of the Oak Park Unified School District.

Because the first year was voluntary, only 16 of Oak Park’s 255 freshmen took the exit exam. Ninety-four percent passed English and 89 percent cleared the math hurdle.

Half of the 455 Calabasas freshmen and 158 of the 560 Agoura freshmen were tested.

At Westlake High School, 27 of 551 freshmen took the test with 96 percent passing English and 76 percent passing math. At Thousand Oaks High School, 55 of 681 freshmen took the test and 89 percent passed English and 67 percent cleared the math hurdle. Only 20 of 415 Newbury Park freshmen volunteered for the test. Ninety-five percent were successful in English and 70 percent in math.

The English multiple choice and essay questions are geared to meet state content standards through grade 10. The math covers questions through Algebra I.

"Granted the biggest concern would be in the math area," said Joe Nardo, Agoura High School’s assistant superintendent for education. "Generally our English teachers were saying they thought we would be pretty well prepared. The difference being in math was that if you didn’t have algebra, maybe there were some algebra questions maybe they wouldn’t do well on."

Students who didn’t pass will have eight more opportunities to take the exam beginning in the spring of their sophomore year. Students will have three chances to pass the exit exam in their junior year, three times in their senior year and one final opportunity in the summer following their senior year.

Test questions and results are posted on the Web at http://cahsee.cde.ca.gov.

"I really like what they’re doing in terms of approaching this openly," Nardo said.