Testing the learning curve in California's schools - controversy over California Learning Assessment System that emphasizes essays to measure critical thinking rather than testing of subject matter

Insight on the News, August 1, 1994 by Gayle M.B. Hanson

What costs $40 million to administer, is given to more than a million students in the state of California and is graded, in some cases, by individuals whose only qualification for such work is a bachelor's degree, and who have received almost no training in educational testing?

The answer is the California Learning Assessment System, a controversial test designed to measure students' ability to think critically. But don't expect any cut-and-dried, knowledge-based questions on the CLAS test. And that's the rub, say critics, who complain that CLAS prods students to reveal not what they know but how they feel -- making the test little more than a warm-and-fuzzy exercise of self-expression.

"From the various elements of CLAS that have been reviewed by students, parents, legislators and staff, it is clear that the basic integrity of the test should be held to question," says Anne McKinney, a member of the state Republican Assembly Caucus.

Formulated by the California Department of Education in an attempt to better gauge the learning abilities of the state's middle and high school students, CLAS came into being in 1991 when its chief advocate, Santa Barbara Sen. Gary Hart, a liberal Democrat, pushed funding for the experimental testing program through the California Legislature.

Rather than traditional multiple-choice questions, CLAS uses essay questions and literature to measure students' critical thinking -- an approach that flies in the face of the desire of many parents and educators to return to basics. But more importantly, many are questioning the type and the quality of the literature used in the test.

For instance, in this year's 10th-grade language arts tests, some students were required to read an autobiographical story by comedian and diet guru Dick Gregory titled, "Not Poor, Just Broke."

The selection tells the story of a schoolboy's infatuation with a girl named Helene and his attempts to impress her. After Helene tells the teacher her father will give $2.50 to a fund for families on welfare, the boy, whose family is on welfare, interrupts to say that his father will give $15. "|We are collecting this money for you and your kind, Richard Gregory,' the teacher replies. |If your daddy can give 15, you have no business being on relief.'" And, the teacher adds, "|We know you don't have a daddy.'" That, says Gregory, is when he learns shame.

Students taking the test are asked to give their first response to how the story makes them feel, and then are told to use "symbols, images, drawings and/or words" to fill in the outline of two human heads: one labeled "Dick Gregory, age 7" and the other, "Dick Gregory, adult."

"We really felt that this story perpetuated stereotypes of all kinds," says John Aycock, superintendent of the Cucamonga School District. "The literature really seemed to set up a negative mind-set among the kids. And, you are talking about a young boy in school who is embarrassed and shamed by his teacher. Finally, we had to ask why we would want a piece of literature that would cast teachers in such a negative light."

After reviewing the tests, Aycock's school board voted unanimously not to administer them. "Like many other school districts, we had heard the rumors about the test," recalls Aycock. "At first the state Department of Education said that we weren't going to be able to review it because of their concern about the copyright. But they then relented so the school board had the opportunity to look over the material. It was really interesting to look at the faces of the school board members as they read through the test. At the end it was a simple decision. We just didn't feel that this test is appropriate for our kids!"

Now in its second year of existence, CLAS has become the flash point in a firestorm of controversy about student testing, and program funding has been jeopardized. Many think it's unlikely that Hart will be able to leverage the votes needed to refinance the project, and Republican Gov. Pete Wilson has withheld about $26.4 million earmarked for the test, refusing to release the money until the entire controversy is resolved.

"We believe the test has serious flaws and have called for a complete independent financial audit and performance review of the entire CLAS testing program," says Maureen DiMarco, California's secretary of state for child development.

Despite proposed efforts by educators and state legislators to tinker with the substance and administration of the test, many believe that CLAS is beyond repair. "If there was a way to fix the test, I'd be the first to say, |Go ahead,'" says Joe Stein, former president of the state Board of Education. "I just don't know if the test can be fixed. I've been involved with CLAS since its inception, and right now I believe that the test is costly and ineffective. It was poorly conceived by unqualified persons, improperly administered and scored, and it has not produced the advertised results."

Moreover, public opinion is running strongly against it. This year alone, parents have filed dozens of lawsuits hoping to prevent schools from administering the test, and hundreds of others have refused to allow their children to take the test. Six school districts in Southern California, including the Cucamonga School District, declined to administer it. One of these, the Antelope Valley School District, was sued by the state Board of Education after it refused.