Mao Vang Named as New Assessment Director – Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced today that he has appointed Dr. Mao Vang as the new Director for the Assessment Development and Administration Division (ADAD) at the California Department of Education (CDE). The division manages the development and administration for all statewide assessments.

“Mao brings a wealth of experience, knowledge, and passion to the CDE’s leadership team,” said State Superintendent Tony Thurmond. “After more than 20 years of serving in various roles in education, she knows the important role of curriculum, instruction, assessment, and data in providing high-quality educational experiences to all our students.”

Dr. Vang spent the last two-and-a-half years as an Education Administrator at the CDE. Before that she served as Director of Assessment, Research and Evaluation in both San Ramon Valley Unified School District and Sacramento City Unified School District. She also spent time working for Educational Testing Services (ETS), where she directed and managed the development and administrative activities of the California High School Exit Exam program as the contractor working with the CDE.

Source: Mao Vang Named as New Assessment Director – Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

With state test suspended, Vacaville Unified seeks former students eligible for diplomas – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Vacaville Unified administrators are seeking some 150 former district high school students who attended between 2003 and 2015 and met all graduation requirements except for passing the California High School Exit Exam, or CAHSEE, and, thus, did not receive a diploma.

Those students are now eligible to pick up their diploma — a key to personal job advancement or college entrance — at their former respective high schools, Mark Frazier, the district’s chief academic officer, said Wednesday.

“The schools are ready for them,” he said, referring to Vacaville, Will C. Wood and Country high schools. Students who attended the district’s Adult School program also are eligible if they were affected by the circumstances, he added.

via With state test suspended, Vacaville Unified seeks former students eligible for diplomas.

New times demand new ways to support students and schools | EdSource

By Tom Torlakson

California’s education system is transforming in positive ways. Replacing the high school exit exam with more modern and meaningful measures is a critical part of that work.

Governor Jerry Brown recently signed Senate Bill 172 into law, eliminating the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) as a requirement for high school graduation. I was proud to sponsor this bill, and I deeply appreciate state Senator Carol Liu, D-Pasadena, for bringing forward this urgently needed legislation.

The state Legislature created the exit exam requirement in 1999, and schools began using the test a few years later. Since then, however, the world – and California’s education system – have changed dramatically.We have instituted new, more rigorous state academic standards.

via New times demand new ways to support students and schools | EdSource.

California poised to grant high school diplomas retroactively | EdSource

By Louis Freedberg

Never mind.

That is what the state of California is poised to tell between 40,000 and 150,000 students who for nearly a decade may have been denied a high school diploma because they failed to pass the California High School Exit Exam, or CAHSEE.

Senate Bill 172, authored by State Sen. Carol Liu, D-Glendale, is awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature, and he seems likely to sign it. It follows earlier legislation (SB 725) that addressed an immediate problem. When the state abruptly stopped administering the exit exam last summer, some students from the class of 2015 found themselves stranded – admitted to a college, but without an opportunity to pass the test that they needed to enroll this fall.

via California poised to grant high school diplomas retroactively | EdSource.

Torlakson Urges Diplomas be Granted – Year 2015 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson on Friday urged all local educational agencies throughout the state to immediately begin issuing diplomas to those students who have met all other high school graduation requirements in the 2014-15 school year except the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).

Senate Bill 725, authored by Senator Loni Hancock, passed by legislators, and signed this week by Gov. Jerry Brown, eliminated the CAHSEE requirement for an estimated 5,000 students who were unable to take the July exit exam after the test was no longer available.

“This is a key part of the legislation the California Department of Education sponsored back in February to assure students would still get their high school diplomas and thus be assured of their admission to our four-year universities would not be impeded,” Torlakson said.

In a letter to county and district superintendents, charter school administrators, and CAHSEE coordinators, Torlakson wrote, “Local educational agencies may immediately begin issuing diplomas to eligible students.”

via Torlakson Urges Diplomas be Granted – Year 2015 (CA Dept of Education).

High School diplomas sub exit exam – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

In the wake of a new law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, state schools leader Tom Torlakson urges California school districts to immediately grant diplomas to high school students affected by the recently passed CAHSEE bill.

Torlakson, in a press release issued late Friday, encouraged districts to issue diplomas to any of some 5,000 students who have met all other high school graduation requirements in the 2014-15 school year except the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).

Responding to text messages, Mark Frazier, chief academic officer for Vacaville Unified, and Dixon Unified Superintendent Brian Dolan knew of no area students affected by the legislation.

via High School diplomas sub exit exam.

Governor to sign high school exit exam bill | EdSource

By Theresa Harrington

The state Senate on Monday unanimously approved SB 725, which would remove passing the California High School Exit Exam as a graduation requirement for the class of 2015, and the governor plans to sign it.

The Senate also approved an urgency clause that would allow the bill to go into effect immediately, if the governor signs it. Both votes were 37­-0. Gov. Jerry Brown has 12 days to act on any bill that reaches his desk this week. He plans to sign the bill, said his Deputy Press Secretary Deborah Hoffman in an e-mail.

“Students who’ve been accepted into college should not be prevented from starting class this fall because of a test cancellation they could not control,” she said. “The Governor will sign this bill to ensure these students begin their college careers.”

via Governor to sign high school exit exam bill | EdSource.

High school exit exam may be suspended immediately | EdSource

By Sarah Tully

The California High School Exit Exam may be suspended immediately, possibly letting off the hook thousands of seniors who need to pass it to graduate this year, under a bill passed today by a legislative committee.

The Assembly Education Committee approved the bill, SB 172, to suspend the requirement that students pass the exit exam starting with the Class of 2015. One member, Assemblywoman Young Kim, R-Fullerton, abstained.

The vast majority of seniors already completed the exam to graduate this past school year. State law started requiring students to pass the exit exam, which has English language arts and math sections, to graduate from high school starting with the Class of 2006.

via High school exit exam may be suspended immediately | EdSource.

Vacaville schools to discuss program improvement, assessments – Daily Republic

By Susan Winlow

Out with Standardized Testing and Reporting and in with the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress.

Both assessment umbrellas come with acronyms, of course, STAR is the old and CAASPP is the new.

Vacaville School District trustees will hear an update on program improvement status Thursday and take a look at statewide assessment methods and scores.

The new assessment umbrella this year will include Smarter Balanced assessments for English-language arts and math that go along with the new Common Core standards of teaching. The California Standards Tests will continue to be administered for science assessments in fifth, eighth and 10th grades.

via Vacaville schools to discuss program improvement, assessments Daily Republic.

School trustees express disappointment over test results – Daily Republic

By Susan Winlow

There was a pregnant pause from Fairfield-Suisun School District board members after Marie Williams, the director of secondary education, and the three high school principals finished a presentation Thursday on proficiency scores for Fairfield, Armijo and Rodriguez high schools, and it was asked if there were any board comments.

Trustee Pat Shamansky bit the bullet and didn’t mince words when she launched into her thoughts about the adequate yearly progress proficiency percentages in math and English-language arts that are based on the California High School Exit Examination. They were recently released by the California Department of Education.

via School trustees express disappointment over test results Daily Republic.

High school progress report a mixed bag for Fairfield schools – Daily Republic

By Susan Winlow

The California Department of Education released an abbreviated form of results for state-administered tests in high schools taken last year, showing an increase in proficiency rates in English-language arts and math at Rodriguez and Armijo high schools, but a decline in both for Fairfield High School, including a 7 percent drop in English-language arts.

Usually released along with academic performance index numbers, the state only released the Adequate Yearly Progress numbers for the upper grades because of the phase-out of No Child Left Behind, which ended this past year, and the institution of the new Common Core state standards and their California testing component, Smarter Balanced assessments.

via High school progress report a mixed bag for Fairfield schools Daily Republic.

2013-14 California High School Exit Exam Results – Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education)

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today announced that the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) rate for the Class of 2014 was 95.5 percent—matching the record high passage rate from last year.

“I am pleased California’s high school students continue to pass this graduation exam at record rates,” Torlakson said. “Dedicated educators have worked hard in difficult times to prepare students for college and careers, but we must keep striving for even higher levels of achievement so all students have the skills, knowledge, and tools they need to be successful.”

The CAHSEE is administered each year to ensure students who graduate from public high schools demonstrate competency in reading, writing, and mathematics. Students who do not pass the CAHSEE in grade ten have two opportunities in grade eleven and up to five opportunities in grade twelve to pass the exam.

The preliminary 2013–14 results are for the July, October, November, and December 2013 and the February, March, and May 2014 test administrations.

via 2013-14 California High School Exit Exam Results – Year 2014 (CA Dept of Education).

Fate of high school exit exam undecided | EdSource

By Michelle Maitre

While the state’s standardized testing program is being revamped during the transition to the new Common Core State Standards, the fate of the high school exit exam – the one test students must pass – remains murky.

In overhauling the state assessment system last year, officials postponed a decision about the exit exam, which students need to pass in order to receive a high school diploma. Most other tests are on temporary hiatus while students take a practice test aligned to Common Core. The voluntary standards, adopted by California and 42 other states, set common requirements for what students should know in math and English.

But the exit exam – aligned to the old state standards – remains in place as a requirement for graduating seniors. The most recent scores, for the class of 2014, are expected to be released Friday.

via Fate of high school exit exam undecided | EdSource.

Most Vacaville students pass exit exam – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Nearly 90 percent of Vacaville Unified 10th-graders, which includes some English learners, passed the California High School Exit Examination last year, school district officials reported.

At the governing board meeting late last week, Jane Luick, an English learner program specialist, told trustees that 89 percent of all sophomores in three district high schools passed the exam, CAHSEE for short, in 2013. The same number passed in 2012, and 85 percent passed in 2011, she said, with members of the district’s English Learners Advisory Committee, or DELAC, standing at her side in the Educational Services Center.

 

via Most Vacaville students pass exit exam – The Reporter.

Number of issues top Vacaville agenda – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

When they meet tonight, Vacaville Unified leaders face a busy agenda, from learning results of a public opinion survey of district facility needs to authorizing nearly $140,000 for computer upgrades, among several other things.

Trustees meet at 7 p.m. in the Educational Services Center, 401 Nut Tree Road, Vacaville.

Trustees will hold a public hearing, then likely pass several resolutions to approve two pieces of land for street widenings and one easement of nearly 31,000 square feet to the city for a water detention basin on parts of property at the Elementary School No. 2 site in the Rice-McMurtry area.

 

via Number of issues top Vacaville agenda – The Reporter.

Solano County Office of Education – News

Jay Speck, Solano County Superintendent of Schools, responded to today’s release of the 2012-13 California High School Exit Exam CAHSEE and Academic Performance Index API data.

“The Solano County Office of Education’s preliminary review of the CAHSEE and API data released today by the California Department of Education indicates an overall decline in the performance of the schools across Solano County during the past school year. While any decline is disappointing, these results are not surprising given the devastating funding cuts schools have endured over the last five years. I am optimistic that the new resources given to schools this year, targeted towards our neediest learners, will help put our schools back on the positive trend line we have held in the past several years.

via Solano County Office of Education.