CA Achievement Gap Continues To Narrow

SACRAMENTO — Nearly 95 percent of students from the Class of 2011 met the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) requirement, and tests administered over the last school year also showed improvement among the state's Black and Hispanic students, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today.

"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," Torlakson said. "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 2010–11 exam results show 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.

This year's overall passing rate did not include students with disabilities as these students are currently exempt from meeting the CAHSEE requirement, except for taking the exam in grade ten to meet state and federal requirements. Many of the students, however, continue to take the exam. For the Class of 2011, the passing rate for students with disabilities was 54.6 percent compared to 47.8 percent for students with disabilities from the Class of 2006.

From the Class of 2011, the percentage of Black students meeting the CAHSEE requirement was 90.9 percent compared to last year's 89.6 percent; Hispanic students: 92.3 percent over last year's 91.4 percent; Asian students: 97.7 percent over 97.4 percent; and white students: 98.4 percent over 98.1 percent.

The gap between Hispanic and white students has narrowed by 11.6 percentage points from the Class of 2006, the first class required to meet the CAHSEE requirement to the Class of 2013 (who were tenth graders this past school year) for the ELA portion of the CAHSEE. For the mathematics portion, the gap between Hispanic and white students has narrowed by 12 percentage points from the Class of 2006 to the Class of 2013.

Similarly, the gap between Black and white students has narrowed by 6.5 percentage points from the Class of 2006 to the Class of 2013 in ELA. And in mathematics, the gap between Black and white students has narrowed by 9.9 percentage points from the Class of 2006 to the Class of 2013.

Comparing only Hispanic students in the Class of 2011 to the Class of 2010, there is a 0.9 percentage point increase in passage rate; while comparing the Hispanic population in the Class of 2011 to the Class of 2006, there is an increase of 6.8 percentage points in the passing rate.

Black students in the Class of 2011 display the largest increase in passing rates of 1.3 and 7.2 percentage points, respectively when compared to Black students in the Classes of 2010 and 2006 at the same point in time of their senior year.

The percentage of students passing the CAHSEE in the tenth grade, which is the first opportunity they have to take the exam, has steadily increased. Some 82.4 percent of the Class of 2013 has already passed the ELA portion, compared to 80.6 percent of the Class of 2012. As for mathematics, the passage rate for first-time test takers in the Class of 2013 was 82.7 percent, compared to 80.7 percent of the Class of 2012.

Current law specifies that all public high school students must take the CAHSEE for the first time in grade ten. Students who do not pass the CAHSEE in grade ten have two opportunities in grade eleven and at least three and up to five opportunities in grade twelve to pass the examination.