In California all students are required to take exit exams starting in their sophomore year of high school to gauge their progress in key areas of academic study, English and math. And for the first time 90% of Latino and black students passed those exams.
Virtually all demographics of California seniors saw an increase in the number of students passing this critical exam – without passing a student will not be given a high school diploma.
Specifically, Latino students who passed the exam by May of their senior year rose from 85.5 percent in the class of 2006 to 92.3 percent for the class of 2011. African-Americans rose from 83.7 percent in 2006 to 90.9 this year. Latinos now make up a majority of California’s public school students, surpassing the 50 percent benchmark in 2010.
Educators feel that these improving test scores shows the achievement gap between the different races is narrowing.
