Agoura High Students Score Well On Exit Exam

About 95 percent of Agoura High School tenth graders who took the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) last spring passed it. That was higher than the state average, which was 81 percent for both English and math, according to the annual exit exam results released on Tuesday by the state Superintendent of Schools office.

Passing the Exit Exam in both mathematics and English-language arts is a high school graduation requirement for California students, who take the exam for the first time as sophomores in February. The school district administers the CAHSEE three times during the school year—the final opportunity being in May, according to Mary Schillinger, assistant superintendent of education for Las Virgenes Unified.

Last spring, 1,012 sophomores in the school district took the math portion. Of those, 964—or 95 percent—passed the exam. A total of 1,015 sophomores were tested in the English language section, and 964—or 95 percent—made the grade.

Countywide, 78 percent of the 125, 377 students who took the math test passed and, again, 78 percent of the 125,790 sophomores who took the English exam passed.

Statewide, 81 percent of the tenth graders of the 475,464 who took the math exam passed, and 81 percent of the 478,113 sophomores who took the English test scored above the minimum.

At Agoura High School, 501 of the 530 sophomores who took the math test passed while 503 of the 525 who took the English exam passed. Both scores are at the 95 percent approval level.

Sherry Bronow, assistant principal at Agoura High, said school administrators are pleased with the test results, and attributes the 95 percent passage rate to dedicated teachers and parents.

"Students and parents alike take the test very seriously, as they know that it is part of the requirement to receive their high school diploma," said Bronow. "Our high school teaching staff does an awesome job preparing the students for the exam, coupled with the solid educational background students come to us from the elementary and middle schools."

At Indian Hills Continuation High School, 12 of 17 sophomores passed the math exam while 11 of 23 students passed the English test.  The math rate was 71 percent while the English rate was 48 percent.

"As a district, over 95 percent of our tenth-grade students passed on their fist attempt," said Schillinger. "We are very proud of this consistently high pass rate."