California exit exams canceled

5,000 students receive reprieve

Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Wednesday, in effect canceling the California exit exam as a requirement for graduation for the past school year, and offering a reprieve to about 5,000 students left in limbo when the state canceled the test.

The legislation quickly cleared the Legislature last week as lawmakers sought to help the students, reported The Associated Press. Some students had been unable to enroll in college or join the military due to the test being unavailable.

Locally, students were largely unaffected save for a small collection from each high school that had failed to pass the exam, according to Martha Stuemky, assistant superintendent of instructional services for Porterville Unified School District (PUSD).

Most of the students in this instance are English learners, Stuemky said. “They haven’t been here long enough or they’re just struggling with the writing portion of the language. They just needed a couple more chances.”

Under normal circumstances these students would just have a certificate of completion, instead of a high school diploma, at least until they passed the exam. But now, Stuemky said, they don’t have to, which she argued was for the better. “There are better ways [to measure student success] with Common Core, with the rigor [of the curriculum], with the new forms of testing and the professional development of teachers.”

Jack O’connell was California’s state superintendent of public instruction from 2003 to 2011 and is currently a partner at Capitol Advisors Group, a Sacramento-based consulting firm. O’connell authored the bill which created the high school exit exam in 1999.

“I’m a big believer in accountability,” he said in an interview over the phone.

O’connell said the original exit exam was designed with the intent of making sure students graduated with the basic knowledge and skills needed to be successful in the workplace and later in life. Moreover, the tests were supposed to identify students that were struggling with the current curriculum and accordingly the graduation

Instead of stacking crates of bottled water in a central location for distribution, members and volunteers took to the streets of East Porterville, going door-todoor to personally de-

liver bottled water.

“We were walking down the streets handing water out,” Stevens said. When someone answered the door, they asked them if they had water, he said, and water was only given to those without. “And there were a lot of families”

out of water, he said.

Along the way, there were many heart-breaking stories of families without water.

“One guy said that he was down to his last water bottles,” Stevens said. “Another family said all the water they had left was in the bath-

tub and they used that for cooking.”

Starting at 2 p.m., volunteers handed out all of the bottled water in less than four hours.

“This day brought tears and many smiles to the residents of East Porterville,” Stevens said.