LEGISLATION & POLICIES WE SUPPORT:
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HR 1275 - The federal DREAM Act
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SB 160 - The California Dream Act
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S 340 & HR 371 - Federal AgJobs of 2007 Legalization for Immigrants
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SB 305 (Ducheny) - Pupil Assessment for English Learners
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SB 60 (Cedillo) - Drivers Licenses for Immigrants
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AB 280 (Coto) - “State Seal of Biliteracy” for diplomas or transcripts of high school students who have obtained proficiency in two or more languages.
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AB 1177 (Solorio) - Accelerated English Language Acquisition & Literacy Pilot Program
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Restoration of $65 million in state budget to fund California Longitudinal Pupal Achievement Data System (CaLPADS) to better track students and help avoid them from dropping out.
LEGISLATION & POLICIES WE OPPOSE:
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PVUSD School District Policy- Deny graduation ceremony to high school students who don’t pass the Exit Exam, yet fulfilled all the other traditional graduation criteria, most who are English Language Learners (January 2007). Reverses prior policy won by students in 2006.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel, January 18, 2007
P.V. trustees tighten graduation rules:
If you don’t pass exit exam, you don’t walk with classmates
By Donna Jones
Sentinel Staff Writer
If Pajaro Valley seniors want to celebrate with their classmates at graduation ceremonies this year, they’ll have to pass the state’s high school exit exam.
On a 4-2 vote Wednesday night, Pajaro Valley Unified School District trustees tightened rules for participation in the traditional culmination of high school.
“Kids need goals and standards set for them,” said Trustee Leslie De Rose. “They need to know what they are reaching for”
The class of 2006 was the first required to pass the California High School Exit Exam to earn a diploma, and with legal challenges and controversy raging throughout the state, Pajaro Valley trustees unanimously approved awarding certificates of completion to last year’s seniors who came up short on the exam. On a 6-1 vote they also decided to permit the students to pick up the certificates at graduation ceremonies with the rest of their class. But trustees also voted to take another look at the issue this year.
The principals of the district’s three traditional high schools supported a recommendation to continue handing out the certificates but reserve graduation ceremonies for students who have earned the mandated 220 credits and passed both sections of the exam.
Several speakers urged the board to permit all students to walk across the stage at graduation.
Watsonville lawyer Luis Alejo said the majority of students who struggle with the exam are English learners. Allowing them to participate in what can be a huge event for both students and their families can motivate those students to keep trying, he said.
Faris Sabbah, director of the district migrant education program, also urged trustees to allow students to participate in ceremonies. He said the state exam isn’t a fair measure of the academic achievement of immigrant students learning English. Many of these students have worked hard to earn the necessary credits for graduation, he said.
“I urge you not to penalize these students,” Sabbah said.
At Watsonville High School, 138 seniors have yet to pass the language arts section of the test and 137 haven’t passed math. Of those, 90 percent are short credits as well, he said. Students have two more chances to pass the exam before graduation.
At Aptos High School, 27 seniors are still working to pass the exam. Pajaro Valley High School won’t have a senior class until the next school year.
Watsonville High School Principal Murry Schekman, who was a principal in Salinas Union High School District until joining Pajaro Valley this year, said when the state started ramping up academic standards for high school graduation five years ago, his former district raised its expectations, too. In Salinas, students must earn 240 credits and complete two years of a foreign language to graduate, and with similar demographics that district’s students are passing at rates far exceeding those in the Pajaro Valley, he said.
The district shortchanges students by not holding them to the exam requirement, which is essentially based on middle school curriculum, Schekman said.
“It’s not that outrageous, and I think our kids can do it,” he said.
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