CAHSEE no longer required to graduate

By Abbey Fisk,
Bluedevilhub.com Staff–

The California High School Exit Exam, or CAHSEE, is being discontinued and is no longer a requirement for high school graduation.

Governor Jerry Brown recently signed Senate Bill 172, which allows students that completed all graduation requirements besides passing the CAHSEE to be retroactively awarded their diplomas.

This bill suspends the exit exam in 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years.

For many students, the CAHSEE test was not an obstacle in their journey to graduation, but it was a lost two days of school.

Junior Ryan Bell did not take the CAHSEE test last year because he was sick.

“I’m glad I didn’t take it because everyone told me it was extremely easy and very boring,” Bell said.

However, some students with disabilities with an Independent Education Plan (IED) just had to attempt the CAHSEE and would get a diploma as long as they fulfilled all other graduation requirements.

“For my particular students, the CAHSEE proved a challenge for them, but ultimately they were able to earn their diplomas,” special education teacher Debra Covert said.

Tessler doesn’t know if the exit exam will come back, but thinks “clearly [people] weren’t happy with it.”

The CAHSEE test does not align with the new Common Core curriculum, which Tessler believes may be a reason it has been cancelled.

“It’s a funny thing about education, because they come up with these great ideas, and people force everyone to do it, this is an example,” Tessler said. “So it started in 2003, here we are in 2015 and they’re like, ah, that didn’t work.”