Schools

Murrieta Higher than County, State on High School Exit Exam Scores

Murrieta 10th graders passed the California High School Exit Exam at a rate of 92 percent district-wide.

Murrieta sophomores topped their peer averages in Riverside County and statewide when it came to passing their California High School Exit Exam at a rate of 92 percent district-wide.

All students in California must take the exit exam during their sophomore year. They have two more opportunities to pass it in the 11th grade and three chances as seniors. The class of 2006 was the first graduating class in California that was required to meet the exit exam requirement.

The test is administered for two subjects: English-Language Arts and Mathematics. Students can take their CAHSEEs during one of seven dates over the course of a school year.

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Sophomores at high schools in the Murrieta Valley Unified School District passed both their ELA and math tests at a rate of 92 percent district-wide during the 2011-2012 school year, according to preliminary results released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.

The year prior,

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"Yes, the District average went down, but scores are still pretty solid," said Guy Romero, assistant superintendent of educational services for Murrieta Valley Unified.

"The 1-2 percent difference, when you put a face on it, is about 5-10 kids. We know who the kids are and we will provide intervention," Romero said, noting many are special education students.

"So most will also have this addressed in the IEP (Individualized Education Program)," he said.

Additionally, Romero said such students will also have a choice to get an exemption.

Broken out by high school, 95 percent of sophomores at Murrieta Valley High School passed their English test, followed by 93 percent at Vista Murrieta High School and 90 percent at Murrieta Mesa High School, according to the state data. Sophomores enrolled in the district's independent study program, Tenaja Academy, passed at a rate of 91 percent.

On the math portion of the test, 94 percent of Murrieta Valley 10th graders passed, followed by 92 percent at Murrieta Mesa and 91 percent at Vista Murrieta, state data showed. Sixty-seven percent of Tenaja Academy sophomores passed the math portion.

County-wide, improvement was seen. Eighty-three percent passed both the English and math portions of the test. In the previous academic year, 10th graders countywide had a pass rate of 82 percent in math and English.

Statewide, 84 percent of 10th graders passed the math portion of the test, while 83 percent passed the English half.

Figures were released by the California Department of Education, which reported that 95 percent of students in the class of 2012 across the state passed the overall exam, up 0.8 percent from last year.

"When 95 percent of California students are hitting the mark—despite the tremendous challenges we face and the work we still have to do—there's an awful lot going right in our public schools," said Tom Torlakson, state superintendent of public instruction. "I congratulate the students who succeeded on this test, the teachers who provided invaluable instruction, and the parents who gave their support and encouragement."

Torlakson noted that the achievement gap between Hispanic and white students has narrowed by 12.5 percentage points from the class of 2006 and the class of 2014—this year's 10th graders—on the English portion of the test and 12.9 percentage points on the math section.

The gap between black and white students shrank over that same time period by 7.5 percentage points in English and 10.5 points in math statewide.

In Murrieta, 95 percent of female 10th graders who took the English test passed, compared to 90 percent of males. In math, females and males passed at a rate of 92 percent.

Broken down according to reported race and ethnicity, 99 percent of Asian 10th graders in Murrieta Valley Unified passed math, as did 95 percent of Filipinos, 94 of whites, 90 percent of Hispanic or Latinos and 79 percent of black or African Americans. Ninety-six percent of those who identify themselves as two or more races passed the math portion of the test.

On the English portion of the test, 98 percent of Asian sophomores in Murrieta's public high schools passed, as did 96 percent of Filipinos, 94 percent of whites, 91 percent of Hispanic or Latinos and 86 percent of blacks or African Americans. Ninety-three percent of students identified as two or more races passed the English exam.

According to county-level data, economically disadvantaged students had a 79 percent pass rate on the math test and a 77 percent rate on the English half, compared to a 90 percent rate in math and 91 percent rate in English for children who come from households not at the poverty level.

—City News Service contributed to this report.


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