(September 30, 2003) — At its July 2003 board meeting, the State Board of Education (SBE) suspended the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) from being a diploma requirement for the Classes of 2004 and 2005. The requirement is to be reinstated for the Class of 2006. As a result, the California public school students of 2004 and 2005 are under no constraint of passing the exam to be eligible for a diploma. However, for Glendale Unified School District’s students of 2004 and 2005, the CAHSEE is still a graduation necessity. The CAHSEE postponement was based on results of research conducted by the Human Resources Research Organization. The researchers found that too many students in the Class of 2004 had not learned the standards tested in the exam. GUSD’s Public Information Coordinator Vic Pallos said, “It was, in fact, unfair for these students who hadn’t yet studied some of the material to be expected to pass the test.” The results also illustrated that the implementation of standards-based instructions would improve each year and that the CAHSEE requirement has helped increase the coverage of academic standards in California public schools. For that reason, the SBE dictated the CAHSEE requirement be deferred for the 2004-2005 classes and administered to the Class of 2006. With the decision of the postponement, the SBE also concluded that alterations be made to the actual exam itself. Pallos said that parts of the exam “were too rigorous and other parts of the exam needed to be shortened.” Therefore, the CAHSEE was condensed from the original three-day examination to a two-day examination. To pass the CAHSEE, students in the Class of 2006 will have to achieve a scale score of 350 or higher on both the English-language arts and mathematics parts of the test. Those who fail are offered five opportunities to retake and attain a passing score. Meanwhile, students who graduate in 2004 and 2005 are being allowed by the district to pass the CAHSEE by obtaining a lower scale score of 325 or higher. If the students have not passed the CAHSEE with 325 or higher, they are mandated to take and pass a remedial CAHSEE course in order to be eligible for a diploma. Due to the postponement of the CAHSEE, students of the Classes of 2004 and 2005 who have passed the exam will receive a state Certificate of Accomplishment. This certificate indicates that students have shown academic capability using the state academic standards put upon them. This certificate will be in addition to their high school diploma.