A greater share of students in San Diego Unified and in districts throughout San Diego County passed the high school exit exam this year than last year, according to test scores released today. But the numbers remain dire for English learners and students who are economically disadvantaged.
In San Diego Unified, 65 percent of students passed the math portion of the exam and 62 percent passed the English section — an increase over last year when 61 percent passed math and 62 percent passed English. However, the numbers are still far lower for different groups of students depending on their race, economic background and English ability.
Half of English learners, for instance, didn’t pass the math section of the test. You might remember a study from earlier this year that concluded the test was unfair because testing anxiety seems to have varying impacts on different groups of students.
You can check out the full results for different school districts here. Feel free to send me your observations about the data — or just post your comments here.
Update: An inquiring reader asked me to specify which groups these results are for. Students first take the high school exit exam in 10th grade, but they can also take it again later in high school or even in adult education. I’ve reported the combined results for all test takers here, which tend to be lower than the 10th grade scores alone.