Essay Test Sparks Policy Review by Torrance Schools

Torrance Unified School District board members will review the district’s policy on student testing in the wake of a controversy over the use of a writing proficiency test to screen for student knowledge about drugs.

“We are going to do what we can to make sure we have stricter guidelines,” board member Ann Gallagher said in an interview Friday.

Essays written last February by an estimated 2,000 fifth-, eighth- and ninth-graders were checked by teachers for writing proficiency and then were reviewed by a team of psychologists, counselors and administrators. Fewer than 50 students, whose essays indicated an excessive knowledge about drugs, were referred to school principals for counseling.

Torrance teachers and their statewide colleagues sharply criticized the district’s use of state-mandated writing tests for another purpose.

The California Teachers Assn. adopted a resolution last weekend that deplores the action of the Torrance school district. The statewide association said the district misused the tests, violated the civil rights of students and invaded their privacy.

Bill Franchini, director of the Torrance Teachers Assn., renewed his criticism of the district Thursday night during the taping of a cable television public affairs program.

No one from the district was willing to appear on the Paragon Cable program, which will be broadcast in five segments this week. A district official told Paragon Cable representatives that the matter is closed.

‘Be Honest With Students’

“We need to be honest with students,” Franchini said. “We can’t be deceitful. We need to be up front with them.”

Franchini said teachers object to being placed in the position of telling students to write creatively and then finding out the essays were being used to survey students about their knowledge of drugs and alcohol.

“In teaching, you develop a certain trust with your students and that trust was violated,” he said. “That I believe is the core of the objection on the part of the teachers.”

Teachers are still angry at the decision of administrators to use the writing tests to assess students’ knowledge of drugs. “We didn’t feel that was an appropriate research technique,” Franchini said.

Gallagher said the school board will look into changing its policy on testing. The school board member said she was aware before the tests were given that the essays would be used in an effort to improve the drug education curriculum.

She said use of the state-mandated writing tests to survey students’ knowledge about drugs was “a one-time thing” that avoided the need to take classroom time for a drug survey.

“It is unfortunate there was some miscommunication,” she added. “I hope this kind of controversy doesn’t come up again.”

Gallagher defended the decision to flag some student essays for referral to counselors. Educators have “a duty to respond when they see dark behavior” such as signs of child abuse, drug use or suicidal tendency, she said.

“You’ve got to help the child,” Gallagher said. “The bottom line is what’s best for the children.”