Less than 45 percent of those ninth graders passed the exam and, more troubling, less than 25 percent of the Latino and African-American ninth graders passed the test. The data show that we have a great deal of work to do, especially with our low-performing schools.
Any citizen can see just how rigorous our California standards and assessments are.
The achievement gaps shown by the data are not acceptable. The SBE adopted Eastin's recommendation to establish a passing score of 60 percent correct for English-Language Arts and 55 percent correct for Mathematics. The panel of experts recommended a passing score higher than my adopted recommendation. I applaud Superintendent Eastin's analysis of the appropriate pass rate, given that we have one of the most challenging high school exit exams in the nation. Originally we had hoped to set an even more rigorous passing score, but we were unable to get Senate Bill 84 passed by the Legislature.