Photo Credit: Charlotte Lee

10th grade English Benchmark exam

M-A’s 2010–11 CAHSEE results showed increasing passing rates among most demographic subgroups of students by the end of their senior year. Overall, approximately 94.6 percent or 422,558 students in the Class of 2011 successfully passed both the English-language arts (ELA) and the mathematics portions of the CAHSEE by the end of their senior year.

The California High School Exit Exam, taken by all public high school sophomores across the state, is a standardized test that measures students against state standards. Students in California public schools must pass to receive their diplomas, and in rare circumstances students retake it multiple times.

Last year at M-A, 488 students took the CAHSEE. Out of those 488, 404 (83%) passed the English-Language Arts portion. Sixty-seven percent of students scored proficient or above, and the average score was 397.

For the math section, 417 of the 475 sophomores who took it passed. Seventy-two percent of students scored proficient or above, and the average score was 404.

“It is heartening to see that our students continue to learn and achieve despite the painful toll that budget cuts are taking on our schools,” said Tom Torlakson, State Superindendent of Public Instruction in a California Department of Education news release. “The results of this year’s exit examination—and the progress schools are making to close the achievement gap—are yet another sign of the remarkable commitment that teachers, school employees, and administrators have to the students of California.”

The California Department of Education states: “All students in California public schools must satisfy the CAHSEE requirement, as well as all other state and local graduation requirements, to receive a high school diploma. The primary purpose of the CAHSEE is to: (1) significantly improve student achievement in public high schools and (2) to ensure that students who graduate from public high schools can demonstrate grade level competency in reading, writing, and mathematics.”

The mathematics portion consists of 92 questions that test students in statistics, data analysis, probability, number sense, measurement/geometry, algebra, and mathematical reasoning.

The CAHSEE is divided into two sections: English-Language Arts and Math. The English section contains seventy-two questions that assess aptitude in word analysis, reading comprehension, literary response and analysis, writing strategies, writing applications, and English language conventions. These multiple-choice questions account for 80 percent of the total English-Language Arts score, while the essay makes up the other 20 percent. The scoring scale is from 275 to 450, with 350 a passing score.

This year’s sophomores will take the CAHSEE on Tuesday, March 14.