Los Alamitos Is Head of the Class in High School Exit Exams

With a 97 percent pass rate for the state high school exam, Los Alamitos High School sophomores vastly surpassed their peers around the county and state this year.

Passing the exam, which tests students in math and English, is a graduation requirement in California. High school students take the test their sophomore year, giving themselves two more years to pass the test if they fail the first time. In 2011, The Los Alamitos Unified School District had the county’s highest pass rate for the English portion of the test at 97 percent compared with 86 percent of sophomores countywide and 82 percent statewide. With a 96 percent pass rate in math, the district came in just be behind the Irvine school district, which had a 97 percent pass rate. Countywide, the pass rate for math was 88 percent, and statewide, it was 83 percent.

“I think it’s a testament to our (kindergarten through 10th grade) teachers – everybody contributes to the results,” said Superintendent Sherry Kropp. “The students are getting a lot of these questions for the first time in middle school.”

The high pass rate allows the school to devote individual attention and resources to the remaining 3 percent of the students who didn’t pass the first time, added Kropp.

In recent memory, there have only been two Los Alamitos students who weren’t able to graduate on time because they didn’t pass the test by their senior year – one was a student who transferred into the district at the end of his senior year, and the other was an English language-learner, who was eventually able to pass the test and graduate with continuing education, said Mark Johnson, the district’s assistant superintendent of educational services.

In previous years, Los Alamitos has consistently ranked toward the top of the state and county in its exit exam passage rate.

“We are very happy,” said Johnson. “As proud as we are of our results, we know we are going to continue to get better.”

Think you are smarter than a 10th grader?

Here are some math questions from the test:

1) What are the coordinates of the x-intercept of the line 34x+=y12?

A (,03)

B (,30)

C (,04)

D (,40)

2) Which equation is equivalent to 22xx+−4=6()x−2?

A −22xx+=6−12

B −22xx+=6−2

C 22xx+=6−12

D 22xx+=6−2

3) The winning number in a contest was less than 50. It was a multiple of 3, 5, and 6. What was the number?

A 14

B 15

C 30

D It cannot be determined.