Don’t blame the exit exam

IT’S HARD NOT TO FEEL FOR Alma Zavala, who immigrated from Mexico to Santa Ana four years ago. A high school senior, she has worked hard at her studies and, after several failures on the English portion of the high school exit exam, had one last chance Tuesday to pass in time for a June graduation. It’s also hard not to admire the state’s determination in ensuring that Alma and other students like her graduate with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.

Alma’s failures, of course, are not her fault. She’s a responsible student who practices reading and writing an hour each night, as the Times’ Seema Mehta reported. Nor are they the fault of her school, which provides her with special after-school and Saturday tutoring. But if this situation is no one’s fault, then should thousands of students in California like Alma, who pass all their courses but flunk the exit exam, be allowed to graduate?

As much as we want to see Alma graduate and fulfill her dream of becoming a nurse, the answer is no. The exit exam was adopted because Californians generally, and employers specifically, were fed up with seeing young adults come to work lacking the most basic abilities. Students like Alma may need remedial work past their senior year to gain the needed skills. That’s discouraging news, to be sure. But requiring any less is fooling Alma into thinking that she’s ready for the rigors of nursing school.

The English test asks for ninth- or 10th-grade reading and writing abilities. The math test measures skills on an eighth-grade level. Students have all day to take each test, and multiple chances to take them. The passing scores are 60% for English and 55% for math, which would be an F in any self-respecting high school class.

If the exit exam has taught California anything, it’s that too many high schools fall short of that self-respecting mark. Among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit claiming the exam is unfair to poor and minority students are two English-language learners who flunked the test multiple times and yet had grade-point averages of 4.0 and 3.84. Unfortunately, students are too often misled into thinking they’re academic superstars -- until the exit exam delivers a jolt of reality.

In that case, students should be suing over their schools’ low standards, not over the exam, which has usefully exposed the charade that they were getting an adequate education.