California High School Exit Exam Results Released

More than 95 percent of Pleasanton's high school sophomores passed the high school exit exam needed for graduation this past year, according to results released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.

In the Pleasanton Unified School District, 96 percent of the 1,249 who took the mathematics part of the test passed the exam. In English language arts, 97 percent of the 1,248 test takers passed the exam.

At Amador Valley High, 98 percent of students passed the math portion of the test (659 of 671) and 97 percent passed the English language arts section (651 of 668).

At Foothill High, 97 percent passed the math portion (521 of 537) while 99 percent passed the English language arts section (534 of 540).

At Village High, 59 percent passed the math section (23 of 39) while 66 percent passed the English language arts portion (25 of 38).

The sophomores who didn't pass can take the exit exam again in their junior and senior years.

Linda Flagler, who works in the district's curriculum and special projects department, said there were only eight students out of more than 1,300 graduating seniors in June who couldn't graduate because they hadn't passed the test.

She said students who fail the exam as sophomores are given intervention classes in math and English language arts to help them with the exam.

She noted Pleasanton is one of the highest achieving districts in the state. High education standards and parental involvement are two of the reasons.

More than 90 percent of Pleasanton high school graduates go onto to community college, state college or a university. About 78 percent of Pleasanton students are enrolled in UC-required courses.

Statewide, more than 94 percent – or 422,558 sophomores – passed the English language arts and mathematics part of the exit exam and qualified to graduate.

(Click here to see the results yourself.)

The achievement gap between white and minority students continues to shrink.

The percentage of black students in California who passed the exit exam was 90.9 of this year's graduating class, up from 89.6 percent the year before. Some 92.3 percent of the state's Hispanic students passed this year, up from 91.4 percent in 2010.

Statewide passage rates for white and Asian students: 98.4 percent and 97.7 percent, respectively.

“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,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson. “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.”