Vast Majority of Calabasas Sophomores Pass Exit Exam

More than 95 percent of Calabasas High sophomores who took the state-mandated high school exit exam in the spring passed the test.

The results were posted Tuesday by the state Superintendent of Schools office.

Students need to pass both the English language arts and math sections of the exam to graduate from high school.

Tenth grade is the first time students are eligible to take the test.

If they fail it, they have to take it again in their junior year and, if necessary, when they're seniors. 

In the math section, 443 out of 453 Calabasas High sophomores scored a passing grade. That's a 98 percent passing rate.

Ninety-seven percent of 10^th graders, or 442 out of 455 students, passed the English portion of the exit exam.

For the 2008-09 school year, 95 percent of Calabasas High sophomores passed the math section, while 97 percent of them passed the English portion.

Throughout Las Virgenes Unified, 94 percent of 1,009 10^th graders passed the math exam, while 97 percent of 1,010 sophomores earned a passing score for the English test.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell stressed the importance of the test in a press release.

"Passing the exit exam is a high school graduation requirement because students need these important basic skills to be successful in college, the workforce and in life," he said.