Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay

I'm at my desk (unusual). The students are quiet (unusual).

My sophomores are taking the California High School Exit Exam. They're with me for three or four periods both today and tomorrow. They must pass the English and Math sections of this test before being granted a high school diploma. About 80% pass both sections as sophomores the first time; if not, they get two shots per year at it in both their junior and senior years, and virtually all of the remaining students pass both sections before their caps and gowns arrive in those little plastic bags.

Unlike the state testing, students realize that this test has real consequences for them, and so take it seriously. Some are very worried about passing.

All in all, the test is a good thing: students should have certain basic skills to hold a high school diploma, and it just might be a conflict of interest to let individual districts decide who is proficient and who is not. Reminds me of Garrison Keeler's Lake Wobegon, where "…all the children above average." Figure the paradox in that.

My new aides have been coming in today, and because of the test, I have had time to sit and orient them to the gradebook & cetera. An unusual luxury. And since sememster grades are turned in, I really have nothing pressing do, which is why I can sit here and blog in class. Oh, I could be straightening my files, or previewing an upcoming unit, but at the beginning of the term there aren't many Liliputians tying down Gulliver quite yet, so I can still scratch my nose if I want.