About 1.2% of Glendale's senior class of 2006 were denied diplomas because they failed the exit exam, Assistant Supt. Greg Franklin said. The failure rate across the state is about 10%, officials said.
"It might be a relatively small number for our district but we want at 100%," Escalante said.
Board member Mary Boger supports the exam but would like to level the playing field for certain students.
"I have never objected to the [exam] in general," Boger said. "I have only had concerns about those students who — because of learning disabilities or being very newly arrived immigrants — were being denied a very important piece of paper."
The state allows for a waiver process that Boger supports.
"I believe all children can learn and it's up to us to get them ready for [the exam]," Boger said. "So as long as we continue to have a waiver process for those students who truly deserve it, we will all get along with [the exam]."
State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell supported the test, which was struck down by an Alameda County Superior Court judge in May on the basis that the test was unfair to low-income students.
O'Connell will host a press conference at a Glendale elementary school Tuesday to announce the results of the 2006 state standardized test scores.
"There is an ongoing concern that all of our students have to take so many tests," Boger said. "Some of these [state officials] need to get together and eliminate one or another test or modify the tests to cover the subject matter everyone is concerned about and bring down the number kids must take."
Students spend a week each year taking state standardized tests and the exit exam is another day of testing.
