Program Offers Second Crack at Diploma: Students Give High School Exit Exam the Old College Try
By Michelle Machado, The Record, Stockton, Calif.
Oct. 11–STOCKTON — Rebecca Wares was 18 years old when she dropped out of high school.
“I was short credits, and I didn’t pass the exit exam,” said Wares, who failed the state test required for high school graduation in her sophomore, junior and senior years at Weber Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology.
Wares, now 19, and 16 other students from the Class of 2006 who did not pass the California High School Exit Exam on Wednesday began attending San Joaquin Delta College workshops to prepare to retake the test.
Statewide, more than 90 percent of the Class of 2006 — the first to have to pass the exit exam — met the English-language arts and math standards.
Still, more than 30,000 students like Wares were left without diplomas.
Gina Foppiano, coordinator for Delta’s California High School Exit Exam Project, said that the free program offers financial incentives for those who join, and students can enroll at any time in the two-hour workshops held twice each week.
The program offers educational support that includes academic assessment, language arts and math classes, and test preparation; workshops on financial aid, career planning and other topics; and supportive services, such as counseling, child care and bus passes.
Students also enroll in the Stockton School for Adults, where they can complete any classes required for high school graduation and take the exit exam.
The Delta College project is a partnership among the college, local school districts and public agencies and is funded by a $500,000 state grant that runs through December 2008, Foppiano said.
Students can access the program throughout the grant period, if needed.
“We will offer services until they pass,” Foppiano said.
If the grant is renewed, then the program will pick up students from the Class of 2007 who did not pass the exit exam.
A tentative settlement in Valenzuela v. O’Connell et al., a lawsuit filed in February 2006 challenging the exit exam, may offer students in the Class of 2006 and beyond the assistance they need to learn the skills measured on the test.
The settlement proposal requires passage by the state Legislature and approval by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of Assembly Bill 347, authored by Assembly member Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara.
The bill, awaiting the governor’s consideration, would ensure that students who fail to pass the exit exam can receive up to an additional two years of academic assistance from their school districts.
For Wares, Delta’s program is the steppingstone between being a high school dropout and being a college student.
“This was an easy way out,” she said.
Contact reporter Michelle Machado at (209) 943-8547 or mmachado@recordnet.com.
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