School Exit Exam
* I applaud Robert Levine’s “Schools: Standards Are Important, but Money Is Vital” (Opinion, May 21). As a member of the California High School Exit Exam Advisory Panel, I, along with others, have listened to testimony from many experts as we have worked to implement a testing of “standards.”
The experts from the Texas statewide testing system have given our panel testimony that emphasizes the need for a huge influx of financial resources if students are to be held accountable to pass such a high-stakes exam. All high school students in Texas are given, free of charge, various test-preparation and remediation materials. California will hold students in this year’s eighth-grade class accountable to pass the HSEE in order to receive a high school diploma. The funds available to support the students (and their teachers) in this effort are minimal at present.
If Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature want California students to have a fair chance of passing this new exam, money is vital.
BETSY ADAMS, Teacher
Calif. Academy of Mathematics
and Science, Carson
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