California: Battle over exit exam concluded

Exam stays

State education officials and lawyers representing students who failed the California High School Exit Exam settled a lawsuit Thursday that began last year in an attempt to eliminate the test as a graduation requirement. Under the agreement, the test remains in place but schools must continue to educate students who fail for an additional two years after 12th grade -- if those students want to return and try the test again.

Both sides saw it as a victory. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell gets to keep the test, which has been a cornerstone of his platform as the head of the state's public school system. Advocates for low-performing students get to keep those kids in school a bit longer, with the hopes they'll pass the test and earn a diploma. "For our clients, this is absolutely a victory," said Arturo Gonzalez, the San Francisco attorney who represented students in the classes of 2006 and 2007 who couldn't graduate from high school because they failed the exit exam. "It just means that if (a school is) going to have a special course to prepare students for the test, you may have to invite five kids from last year who didn't pass. And that's a lot better than having those five kids out on the street."

Gonzalez sued O'Connell over the test last year, months before the first class required to pass it was scheduled to graduate. The courts initially sided with Gonzalez and tossed the test. Then the state Supreme Court overturned the decision and restored the test. The parties have been hashing out a settlement ever since. "We won the lawsuit to the extent the exit exam stayed in place, but the litigation was never dismissed. There was always the potential for the case to go to trial," said Hilary McLean, O'Connell's press secretary. "We thought it was important to end the threat of a potential lawsuit."

The state is paying Gonzalez's law firm $87,000. And the state is paying county offices of education $1.5 million to oversee that districts comply with the terms of the settlement. The cost of educating students who return after 12th grade will come from the funds schools already receive from the state to prepare students for the exit exam, McLean said. Students who return can receive test preparation in English and math. Those who are not fluent in English can take more classes to learn the language, according to the agreement. "We are going to ensure that districts immediately begin notifying students in the classes of '06 and '07 that they have the opportunity to come back for additional instruction," Gonzalez said. "They need to set up a program and then do whatever they can to get students to attend."

The settlement will become final if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approves Assembly Bill 347, by Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara. The bill, which awaits approval in the Senate, spells out the details of the settlement.

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Serious loss of mathematics skills in Australia

AUSTRALIA is losing its mathematical skills as school courses are hijacked by fads and divorced from modern mathematics as practised in industry and business. At a time when economic growth is underpinned by jobs in maths-related fields, the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute says the teaching and learning of maths in schools and universities is in serious trouble and suffering from a lack of input from mathematicians. Not only is the number of students taking maths continually falling, especially at an advanced level, but even students studying related fields such as engineering and science are taking fewer maths courses.

In a submission to a numeracy review being undertaken by federal, state and territory governments under the auspices of the Council of Australian Governments, AMSI is critical of the review for its ignorance of modern maths and its application in industry and business, and for failing to include mathematicians in the process. "Mathematicians and statisticians have had few opportunities to be involved in school mathematics for a number of years," says AMSI, representing 30 universities and mathematical organisations. "As a result, serious misconceptions concerning modern mathematics are arising ... particularly concerning the role of foundation or 'pure' mathematics."

AMSI says that in the absence of input from experts and users of mathematical sciences across the trades and professions, school curriculums tend not to reflect pertinent mathematical content and have become the victim of fads. Mathematics has also "lost coherence and many of its successful teachers". "We are deeply concerned by the failure of the background (review) paper to address specific content, the apparent lack of knowledge of modern mathematical sciences, the inability to give examples of good practice (at) high-achieving schools and failure to address Australian curriculum expectations compared to those of other nations," the submission notes.

It says school curriculums tended to reflect the belief that pure maths courses were only required for highly specialised areas, when pure maths was a vital element of many new applications in various fields, such as climate change, as well as providing the fundamental understanding required to apply mathematical concepts.

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"

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