California High School Exit exam scores took a dip this year at three Gilroy high schools, while the fourth – the Dr. TJ Owens Early College Academy known as GECA – racked up some of the highest marks in the state with 100 percent passing rates in English language arts and math.
“For four years running we’ve had perfect scores,” said GECA Principal Mary Ann Boylan of the alternative high school, which opened in 2007 and is located on the Gavilan College Campus. “It just continues to substantiate the academics here. It validates what we do.”
Referred to informally as the “CAHSEE,” the California High School Exit Exam is a mandatory graduation requirement for all public school students and is designed to ensure that all high school graduates have a solid foundation in math and language arts, based on state standards. High school students are required to take the CAHSEE for the first time in the 10th grade. Students that fail the exam in the 10th grade are given two more opportunities in the 11th grade and five more in the 12th grade to pass the exam. The class of 2006 was the first graduating class required to pass the exam.
2011-2012 CAHSEE RESULTS
State average
-Passing math: 84 percent
-Passing language arts: 83 percent
Santa Clara County average
-Passing math: 88 percent
-Passing language arts: 87 percent
Gilroy Unified School District
-Passing math: 84 percent
-Passing language arts: 82 percent (down 3 percent from last year)
Gilroy High School
-Passing math: 80 percent (down 4 percent from last year)
-Passing language arts: 78 percent (down 4 percent from last year)
Christopher High School:
-Passing math: 89 percent (down 2 percent from last year)
-Passing language arts: 87 percent (down 3 percent from last year)
Dr. TJ Owens Early College Academy (GECA)
-Passing math: 100 percent
-Passing language arts: 100 percent
Mount Madonna:
-Passing math: 23 percent (down 17 percent from last year)
-Passing language arts: 13 percent (down 39 percent from last year)
Click here to view a chart that breaks down scores, including demographic subgroups, for each of Gilroy’s four high schools, the entire district, the county and the state.
