Record High School Exit Exam Passing Rate Posted in 2010

Approximately 94.5 percent – more than 419,600 seniors in the Class of 2010 — passed both the English and math portions of the high school exit exam, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell announced August 24.

It is the highest passing rate since the test was first administered in 2006. The lowest passing rate was 90.4 percent in 2008. Last year, 90.6 percent passed, 433,000 students out of a class of 477,000.

“I am pleased that the latest exit exam results show that more of our students are mastering the mathematics and English-language arts skills measured by this exam,” O’Connell said in a statement.

The 24,615 students who didn’t pass — down from 45,015 in 2009 – can still continue taking the test and earn a high school diploma.

The results also show a growing number of students passing the test in Grade 10 — the first chance students have to take it.

Just over 80 percent of the Class of 2012 has already passed both sections of the test. For the Class of 2011, the passing rate was 79.5 percent.

For students who don’t pass the test in Grade 10 have two more chances in Grade 11 and at least three and as many as five chances to pass in their senior year.

The chart below breaks down this year’s results by gender, ethnicity and other classifications.

Students with disabilities are not required to take the exit exam but many take it anyway. In the Class of 2010, 53.4 percent of students with disabilities passed.

Of the students from previous classes who failed to pass the test by their senior year, 1,329 students from the Class of 2008 and 4,514 students from the Class of 2009 passed the test by May 2010, according to preliminary analysis conducted by Human Resources Research Organization, the state Department of Education’s independent evaluator of the test results.

Results sorted by school, district and county can be found here.

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