California High School Exit Examination Questions and Answers (continued)

At the request of the student’s parent or guardian, a school principal must submit to the local school governing board a request for a waiver of the requirement to pass the part(s) of the CAHSEE on which a modification was used and the equivalent of a passing score was earned. For the local board to waive the CAHSEE requirement, the principal must certify that the student has met the following conditions:

1. An IEP or Section 504 Plan is in place that requires the accommodations or modifications to be provided to the student when taking the CAHSEE.
2. The student has either satisfactorily completed or is in progress towards completing high school level curriculum sufficient to have attained the skills and knowledge otherwise needed to pass the CAHSEE.
3. The student has an individual score report showing that the student has received the equivalent of a passing score on the CAHSEE while using a modification.

What is done to assist students with disabilities when taking the CAHSEE?

CAHSEE regulations specify accommodations and modifications that students with disabilities must be permitted to use if specified in the student's IEP or Section 504 Plan for use on the CAHSEE, standardized testing, or for use during classroom instruction and assessments. An accommodation is a change in the testing environment or process that does not alter what the CAHSEE measures or affect the comparability of scores, whereas a modification is a change that fundamentally alters what the CAHSEE measures or affects the comparability of scores.

Students who use an accommodation and earn a score of 350 or higher have passed that part of the CAHSEE. Students who use a modification and earn the equivalent of a passing score on one or both parts of the CAHSEE have not passed but may be eligible for a waiver of the CAHSEE requirement (as described above).

What is done to assist English learners when taking the CAHSEE?

English learners must be permitted to take the CAHSEE with certain test variations if used regularly in the classroom. For example, if regularly used in the classroom, English learners must be permitted to hear the test directions in their primary language or use a translation glossary.

Students who are English learners are required to take the CAHSEE in grade ten with all other grade ten students. During their first 24 months in a California school, English learners are to receive six months of instruction in reading, writing, and comprehension in English (Education Code Section 60852). During this time, they are still required to take the CAHSEE.

When do parents and guardians receive their student’s CAHSEE results?

About eight weeks after each administration of the exam, school districts receive two copies of the CAHSEE Student and Parent Report for each student who took the examination. When school districts receive these reports, they are to immediately distribute one copy to parents and guardians and place the other copy in the student’s permanent record.