GILROY
– This year’s seniors already knew they were getting a break
when the state decided to postpone the exit exam. Now, some
graduates in Gilroy and hundreds of other California school
districts are getting an even bigger break.
GILROY – This year’s seniors already knew they were getting a break when the state decided to postpone the exit exam. Now, some graduates in Gilroy and hundreds of other California school districts are getting an even bigger break.
The state is letting the Gilroy Unified School District graduate about 15 students who probably will not pass Algebra I. The algebra requirement was supposed to go into effect this year, but many districts have applied for a one-year waiver from the state.
In justifying why it applied for the waiver, Principal Bob Bravo said GUSD told the state that students were not aware of the requirement.
While school guidance counselors are responsible for making sure students take the necessary courses, Bravo said a number of groups let the algebra class requirement slip through the cracks.
“I wouldn’t put it in one place, per se,” he said. “Our school board didn’t change the graduation requirements when that requirement came down, so I would put responsibility across the board, at the district level and at the site level and at the state level.”
Although the board did not update graduation requirements, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Jacki Horejs said, the state’s rules supercede GUSD’s. The requirements will be updated in the course of other upcoming curriculum fixes.
It’s not a problem unique to Gilroy. Nearly 200 districts across the state have been granted the waiver, saving more than 13,000 students from losing out on a diploma. In their waiver applications, many said they weren’t aware of the requirement.
“I think it was kind of packaged together with the exit exam, and I think the concentration was pointed over there and not at the algebra requirement,” Bravo said.
The Class of 2004 was supposed to be the first graduating class to pass the California High School Exit Exam and an Algebra I course. Instead, last summer, the state postponed the exit exam until 2006.
Some schools reportedly figured that meant the algebra requirement was postponed as well. In January, a Santa Cruz district was the first to request a waiver, saying students and teachers had not been informed that the requirement still stood. It wasn’t long before numerous other districts followed suit, including GUSD in February.
In the past, the state has required that students complete at least two years of math courses and, in order to get the waiver, graduates must at least have attempted to pass Algebra I, Bravo said.
“Some of the students who have been enrolled may not pass. … That was just a group of 15 we needed to get the waiver for,” he said.
There are about 450 graduates in the Class of 2004.
Bravo said he does not expect GUSD’s waiver will reflect poorly on those graduates’ diplomas.
“It’s a new requirement that was not adequately advertised, so a few students fell through the cracks, but a vast majority would have met it anyway. So I don’t think this is going to make any students feel any kind of negative impact,” he said.
The GUSD trustees approved submitting the waiver request at a regular board meeting in February, following a public hearing during which no one from the public spoke.
At the time, Superintendent Edwin Diaz noted that the waiver would potentially affect very few students in the district, some of whom were recent transfers who were not required to pass Algebra at their former schools.
Trustee David McRae, a self-professed lover of math, said he would be concerned when any graduating senior was unable to pass algebra. Nevertheless, the district has spent the past few years shoring up the math curriculum at the middle schools and recognizes that the high school is next.
“I think any time you have something that needs improvement, you have to allow time for that, but any time you need improvement, you need to push for it,” McRae said. “Things have been in place, so I knew it wasn’t a massive system overhaul – we’re talking about completing a process that’s already in place.”
Trustee Tom Bundros, who was absent from the board’s vote, said such waivers from state education requirements shouldn’t continue, but he likely would have approved the waiver request.
“It’s certainly a flag that we need to drill into this, understand what’s going on, put something in place to resolve it,” he said. “If there’s a reason that all students can’t pass algebra, I guess we need to address that, and maybe one-on-one (with each student.)”
Like the exit exam postponement, the state education department says this is a one-time deal. Next year, seniors will have to pass algebra in order to graduate. By 2006, seniors must pass the entire exit exam.
According to Bravo, Gilroy High will be prepared for the algebra requirement by next year.
Intervention classes already are in place to prepare students to pass the exit exam, which includes algebra questions. One option is for students to enroll in a slower-paced, two-year Algebra I course.
“Even the number (of students) who might need it is small, so with another year of preparation, I think that number might be even smaller, and we’ll have a number of things in place to make sure they’re caught,” Bravo said.
Lori Stuenkel covers education for The Dispatch. She can be reached at 847-7158 or ls*******@************ch.com.
