Pupil assessment: high school exit examination: United States history and government.

Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to develop a high school exit examination in English language arts and mathematics in accordance with state academic content standards. Existing law requires, commencing with the 2003–04 school year and each school year thereafter, each pupil completing grade 12 to successfully pass the high school exit examination as a condition of receiving a diploma of graduation or a condition of graduation from high school. Existing law requires that each pupil take the high school exit examination in grade 10 beginning in the 2001–02 school year and allows each pupil to take the examination during each subsequent administration, until each section of the examination has been passed. This bill would require the Superintendent, with the approval of the state board, to develop an additional section to be included in the high school exit examination that tests United States history and government in accordance with the statewide academically rigorous content standards for history-social science adopted by the state board, as specified. The bill would require the Superintendent to subject the United States history and government section to specified field testing and review requirements before adoption by the state board. The bill would require the state board, by January 1, 2016, to adopt a United States history and government section developed by the Superintendent for inclusion in the high school exit examination. The bill would require, commencing with the 2019–20 school year and each school year thereafter, each pupil completing grade 12, in addition to successfully passing the English language arts and mathematics sections of the high school exit examination, to successfully pass the United States history and government section adopted by the state board. The bill would require, commencing with the 2017–18 school year, each pupil to take the high school exit examination, including the United States history and government section, in grade 10 and would allow each pupil to take the examination during each subsequent administration, until each section of the examination has been passed. The bill would make conforming changes and other nonsubstantive changes.