Young futures on the line

First in an occasional series on the California High School Exit Exam and its impact on the class of 2006.

Within the next few months, a staggering number of California high school seniors may see their worlds come crashing down. They are the guinea pigs in a tough new state experiment: the California High School Exit Exam. So many now are at risk of not graduating, it would take 60 high school campuses to seat them all.

A practice that's gone on for decades will come to an end. Principals no longer will hand diplomas to students who can barely read, write and calculate. This spring, for the first time, seniors who can't pass the exam will not be allowed to graduate.

They could be kids like Linda Nguyen, who started in Sacramento City Unified schools as a kindergartner and has earned a C average ever since. Or Kevin Muhammad, who hopes to attend college on a basketball scholarship. Or Juan Calderon, who left Mexico at age 4 and dreams of becoming a lawyer.

The seniors are among 182 at Hiram Johnson High School - and nearly 5,000 locally and 90,000 statewide - who still have not passed the test. The exam is in two parts - math and English language arts - and students must pass both sections.

"I just want to get my education and make my parents proud of me," Linda said. "I'm just nervous about that test."

Despite their aspirations, many face tough odds. Linda is studying hard for the math test - but very little for the English section. Kevin has a 2-week-old baby and has contemplated dropping some classes so he can pick up more hours at his dish-washing job. Juan, though he has failed that part of the exam three times, is not taking a math course this year.

Anxiety, apathy and confidence swirl on the Johnson campus. It's already time for seniors to take portraits and order their caps and gowns - even though more than one-third of the class has not passed the test they need to graduate.

The actions of state and local educators haven't made things easy. The school, as required by state law, offered extra help to seniors who have yet to pass the exam, but the law doesn't require them to attend.

Classes, too, are not always aligned with students' needs. Johnson seniors, for example, can opt out of math if they've completed the required credits - even if they haven't passed that part of the exit exam.

And teachers say that state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, an exam supporter, confused students further when he said in September that he would consider alternatives for those who haven't passed. They say students wonder if the exam will be postponed, as it was for the class of 2004, the group originally in line to first face the consequences.

Depending on each school's calendar, seniors get two or three more chances to pass before graduation day. Hiram Johnson seniors will try again Tuesday and Wednesday and then in March.

"I want to walk the stage," Juan said. "You see it in the movies, you see it everywhere. I want to be just like them."

The state does not track individual student performance, so it can't accurately report how many seniors have passed the test. But a Bee survey of all high schools in Sacramento, Yolo, El Dorado and Placer counties shows that 4,643 seniors have yet to pass the exam. One-third of them are concentrated in just 10 schools - most of them campuses that serve large numbers of low-income and nonwhite students.

That means graduation ceremonies could be much smaller than usual next year at the region's neediest schools.

Johnson is one of them.

Teaching the standards

At the east end of Sacramento's Tahoe Park neighborhood, Hiram Johnson High School is dotted with rosebushes and neatly clipped lawns. Low-lying brick buildings surround a courtyard where students hold brownie-eating contests during homecoming week. The corridors are lined with posters reminding seniors to order their class rings.

Student enrollment at Johnson is roughly 20 percent each African American and white, and 30 percent each Latino and Asian American. Most students come from low-income homes, with 64 percent qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. Nearly four in 10 are learning English as a second language.

It is just the kind of school that is supposed to benefit from standards-based education and testing. These federal and state efforts are designed to hold administrators and teachers accountable for teaching all students the same skills no matter what school they attend.

The exit exam adds a new wrinkle to the growing accountability movement: It is the only piece that holds students accountable.

Some students know that. Each day when school lets out, 17-year-old Linda Nguyen heads to an extra math class.

On the board: 2y + 4 - 6 + 6y ≥ 2

"I want to try," Linda calls out from the back of the room.

She combines like terms to get 8y - 2 ≥ 2

Then she adds 2 to both sides of the equation and quickly solves it.

"The answer is B," Linda said. "Y is greater than or equal to ½."

The teacher rewards her with a lollipop.

Yet, like so many kids, Linda also exhibits contradictions. She works hard on math, is active in the school's Asian club and has an after-school job at Quizno's.

But Linda is doing little to prepare for the English part of the test. Last year, she took an exit exam English class - but dropped it this year because her favorite teacher left the school.

She changed her mind a week before Tuesday's test and enrolled in a before-school English class. But by then, she had time for only a couple of lessons.

A team of Hiram Johnson educators planned math and English classes for students failing the exit exam: six classes before school, seven after and another one on Saturdays.

"We have a lot of opportunities for these kids, but they have to take some responsibility for their learning," said math coach Theresa Cummings, who worked on the classes.

In the end, however, so few students showed up for the English classes that the school canceled two of them just 10 days before the test. School officials said they've contacted parents and urged students to attend. But they can't force students to come to classes outside the school day.

"We walk around in terror for them," said Cummings' colleague John Andersen. "And if they are terrified, they certainly are covering very well."

Looking for role models

Two weeks before the November test date, Juan Calderon didn't know when the test was being held. But he was working hard in other ways - helping his father run a concrete-pouring business, taking care of his younger brother and choreographing quinceañera dances.

Juan, 18, has passed the English part of the test but not the math. You wouldn't know it by looking at his class schedule. He's taking English 12 - like most seniors - but is not enrolled in math.

Juan has all the math credits he needs for graduation and said he didn't want the stress of taking it again. It's the only subject in which Juan has been placed in special education.

"I don't know how I passed geometry and Algebra 1," he said. "I don't feel I learned enough to pass the California High School Exit Exam."

Many of Hiram Johnson's struggling seniors have never done well in school but always have been promoted. They've gotten by with C's and D's. They don't always attend class.

Some have learning disabilities. Some were born in other countries and are still learning English. Some live in homes where adults have little education.

But if education is society's "great equalizer" - as posters in Johnson's hallways boast - all students should be able to graduate with the same basic skills. That's the hope with the high school exit exam.

So far, it hasn't proved true. Across California, the seniors who haven't yet passed are largely black or brown, and poor.

Statewide, 90 percent of white seniors and 89 percent of Asian American seniors have passed. That compares with 68 percent of Latino seniors and 63 percent of African American seniors. Among poor seniors of all ethnic backgrounds, 66 percent have passed - compared with 78 percent of the general population.

By many measures the exam should not be difficult for students, who start taking it as sophomores and get a total of six tries. It tests students on reading and writing at a ninth-and 10th-grade level and math skills typically taught in sixth, seventh and eighth grade. Students must get 55 percent to 60 percent of the questions right to pass.

The first class facing an exit exam's consequences usually has the highest rate of failure, said Patty Sullivan, director of the Center on Education Policy, which studies exit exams in the 25 states that have or are developing them. Once younger students see their friends held back from graduation, the pass rate typically jumps, she said.

Good or bad, by the end of the school year California's seniors will become the role models they themselves never had.

"You do have to make an example out of some kids, which is really harsh," said Cummings, the math coach. "This year is going to be a really rough year."

Frustration grows

Most states with exit exams require that schools offer remediation to failing students. But only four states require students to attend the classes, and California is not among them.

That's created a sticky situation for Brandon Reynolds, 18, and Larissa Aguilar, 17.

At the start of the school year, the two were enrolled in an after-school English class. Students learned how to construct essays. They worked on thesis statements and topic sentences.

But - like most of the 22 students enrolled - neither attended every day, and the class was canceled.

Brandon, who hopes to go to acting college and dreams of a career on the stage, remains confident he will pass the exam next time. His last score was very close to passing.

"I have a lot more knowledge than last year," Brandon said.

But his mother is frustrated.

"They're kids," said Darleen Reynolds. "They take it for granted that someone is going to push them right through. And why not? They've gotten through all these years like that."

Reynolds supports the exam. She thinks it could help improve low-performing schools. If teachers don't demand that students learn the basics before they graduate, at least the test will, she figures.

Larissa was five points from passing the English section last time, but her math score was much further away.

For years, her mother said, she's been asking school officials to test Larissa for learning disabilities.

"She's pretty much been failing every class since junior high," said Jennifer Almanza. "But they kept putting her through."

That stopped this year - sort of. School officials held Larissa back to 11th grade. At the same time, they placed her in two special education classes and gave her a heavy course load that could allow her to graduate in June - if she passes all her classes, attends night school, completes a senior project and passes the exit exam.

Larissa spent evenings on her senior project - learning to box - and weekends working at Del Taco. She soon grew defeated.

The pressure of coursework and the exam became unbearable. Larissa told her mom not to order senior portraits. She now talks about dropping out.

A mother's dreams

The exit exam is a graduation requirement for all students, but legal challenges have been mounting. A hearing is set for January in a lawsuit seeking to exempt students with disabilities from having to pass the test this year.

Unless that happens, there will be no relief for Kevin Muhammad, 17. He participates eagerly in his special education classes but still stumbles over words like "wedding" and "folding" when he reads aloud.

In math, he volunteers to answer questions and sits in the front row.

Teacher Debra Schlim guides students through a lesson on exponents. She shows them a poster illustrating how to add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers with exponents. Use the rules on the poster to solve the workbook problems, she says.

"Sitting there going, 'I don't know what to do' with your head down is not going to get you to pass an exit exam," Schlim said. "You have to take some personal responsibility and think about what you want."

Kevin knows what he wants. Like Linda and Juan and Larissa and Brandon, he wants to graduate and make his mother proud.

And Kevin's mother wants what so many parents do: She wants Kevin to have the opportunities she never did.

That includes going to the prom, posing for senior portraits and crossing the stage on graduation day. Yeavonne Turner said she never did those things because she dropped out of high school when she became pregnant with Kevin during her senior year.

"It's all up to my boy here to make sure that he gets to do what I didn't get to do," Turner said. "Everything is like a dream come true for me, this whole year."

Kevin hasn't passed either part of the exit exam. As a young father and varsity athlete, his time is in demand. But Turner is planning his graduation.

She has taken him for his senior portraits. She has fawned over the proofs. In her favorite pose, Kevin is wearing a red cap and gown. His teeth peek through a little smile and his cheeks glow.

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What is the exit exam?

The California High School Exit Exam consists of two parts, math and English, given on consecutive days. Each part usually takes students less than four hours to complete. But the exam is untimed; students may take as much time as they need during each of the two days.

Math: The math section tests students on sixth-and seventh-grade skills, plus Algebra 1, typically taught in eighth or ninth grade. This section includes 80 multiple-choice questions. Students must get 55 percent right to pass.

English: The English language arts portion tests students on ninth-and 10th-grade reading and writing skills. It includes 72 multiple-choice questions and one essay question. Students must get 60 percent right to pass.

About the writer:

• The Bee's Laurel Rosenhall can be reached at (916) 321-1083 or lrosenhall@sacbee.com.