Calif. Judge Throws Out Exit-Exam Requirement

Setting off a legal scramble just weeks before the end of the school year, a superior court judge in Alameda County, Calif., ruled Friday that this year’s high school seniors don’t have to pass the state’s exit exam to receive a diploma.

Judge Robert B. Freedman agreed with the plaintiffs in Valenzuela v. O’Connell that students who have failed the test—especially English-language learners—have not had a fair chance to learn the material because they were more likely than others to attend overcrowded schools and have unqualified teachers. The ruling potentially affects more than 46,000 seniors who have yet to pass both the mathematics and English language arts portions of the exam.

“There is evidence in the record that shows that students in economically challenged communities have not had an equal opportunity to learn the materials tested on the [California High School Exit Exam], that some schools have yet to fully align their curriculums to the state’s content standards, and that demonstrates that the negative effects of scarcity of resources continue to fall disproportionately on English-language learners,” the judge...