California education leaders announced Jan. 19 that a bill has been introduced to exempt certain students with disabilities in this year’s graduating class from having to pass the state’s high school exit exam to receive a diploma.
The legislation, SB 517, reflects the terms of a settlement reached last year in the case of Chapman v. California Department of Education, which sought to delay the exit-exam requirement for students with disabilities in the class of 2006. (“Calif. Schools Chief Sticks by Exit-Exam Requirement,” Jan. 18, 2006.)
The delay, in effect for one year only, applies to students with disabilities who are on a diploma track for graduation this year.
To be granted a diploma, the bill states, in part, that those students must have an individualized education program as of July 1, 2005; must have completed or be about to complete all other state and local graduation requirements in 2006; and must have taken the exit exam at least twice after 10th grade, including once during their senior year with any accommodations or modifications called for in their IEPs.
