KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS

SAN JOSE - California's high school seniors have been told since they were in eighth grade that they would be the first class to have to pass an exit exam to get a diploma.

Now, the state board of education appears poised to deliver a revised message: You're off the hook.

The board is expected to vote Wednesday to delay enforcing the high school exit exam requirement for at least two more years. It is a move welcomed by some educators who want more time to get kids ready to tackle the test, but is seen by others as a setback in the state's aggressive push to establish stricter academic standards.

For them, such a delay would be like downshifting while speeding uphill.

"It does get frustrating," said Trudy McCulloch, principal of Los Gatos High School. "You are working toward a goal and suddenly the goal doesn't exist."

A delay would also give students in the classes of 2004 and 2005 less reason to work hard in school, some administrators fear.

"The kids try a lot harder because of the test," said Tab Taber, principal of Wilcox High School in Santa Clara Unified School District.

Still, many juniors and seniors -- and their parents -- are relieved that the exam may not count for them.

"I'm glad because I have good grades and I would be angry if I had to stay in high school," said 16-year-old James Henry, a junior at Andrew Hill High School in San Jose. James, who gets mostly Bs but failed the test on his first try, does not believe his diploma should not be tied to one test. "All that work for nothing."

Stephanie Henry, James' mother, agrees.

"A lot of students do well in class, but then they choke up on tests," she said. "That's my James's experience."

Under legislation passed in 1999, the class of 2004 -- which had 428,117 kids enrolled statewide as of October -- was supposed to be the first that would have to pass the exam to graduate. Students can take the test up to eight times during their high school years.

As of January, only 62 percent of students in the class of 2004 had passed the math portion of the exam, which covers algebra, as well as some statistics, geometry and probability. Eighty-one percent had passed the English language arts portion, which requires students to demonstrate 10th grade reading and writing skills.

Even many kids who have passed are happy that the exam probably will not keep some of their classmates from graduating with them.

"I don't like tests, even though this one is kind of easy," said Daniel Salinas, 17, who will be a senior at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill. "There's so much you already have to do to get out of high school."

Quite a few teachers are also relieved at the prospect of having two more years to drill kids in algebra, grammar and other material on the test.

Some argue that it is unfair to require the class of 2004 to pass the exit exam because many educational reforms and academic standards adopted by the state in recent years did not filter down into classrooms until some of these kids were already in high school.

According to an independent report released in May, California did not adopt textbooks geared to new academic standards in math until January of 2001 -- when the class of 2004 was in ninth grade -- and in English until January 2002.

The report also found that many students in the class of 2004 who were exposed to state standards in high school classes never got the academic foundation in grade school -- particularly in math -- needed to do well.

Indeed, Reed Hastings, president of the state board of education, said he plans to vote for a delay because he does not want to see California enforce the exit exam until it can withstand a legal challenge. And the soonest that will happen, he believes, is 2006.

Many administrators say they would also be disappointed by a delay because their districts have worked so hard to prepare juniors and seniors for the exam.

Santa Clara Unified, for instance, added an eighth period to the school day at its two comprehensive high schools three years ago to provide additional instruction for students struggling with the test, including many special education students and English language learners.

The result: Roughly 85 percent of students in the class of 2004 at the two high schools have passed.

"We feel like we worked very hard to get those results," said Santa Clara Unified Superintendent Paul Perotti. "There is a sense of frustration because of all the energy and effort we've put into this."