Rejecting a Test Mandated by the State

The Antelope Valley Union High School District voted 3 to 2 last week not to administer the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS) test, which critics say contains essay questions challenging authority and traditional family values and does not adequately measure students’ academic learning.

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Should schools be allowed to refuse administering the CLAS test and if so what, if anything, should they do instead to measure student progress?

Joanne Opdahl, mother of a junior at Quartz Hill High School in the Antelope Valley:

“I don’t think that they should be refusing to give the test. The test is state mandated and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the test. The argument from the group objecting to it is it dealt with people’s feelings. (A teacher meeting with parents) explained they had removed that from the CLAS test, but these people are using the (tactic) we’re all familiar with of repeating things. My biggest complaint is they’re taking freedom away from my child. My child as a high school student should have the opportunity to take a state-mandated test and they took that freedom away. If they want to excuse people from taking the test . . . that is a choice, of course, and I’m not going to argue with that.”

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Assemblyman William J. (Pete) Knight (R-Palmdale):

“I think they should be allowed to make a decision as to what test they give to their students. There are choices as to what test they can give. . . . Essay questions may be better in some cases, but not all. I think there should be a combination. . . . There should be some time to evaluate the ability of the student to punctuate, spell and evaluate a sentence properly. All the questions that relate to family life . . . are not within the authority of the school system and they should not be involved in the school structure.”

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State Sen. Gary Hart (D-Santa Barbara), author of legislation calling for the CLAS test:

“It would be chaotic if school districts were to pick and choose which items they are going to follow. . . . We need to have some system of measuring our expenditure in the public school system. I’m familiar with the procedures of the Department of Education and there is no other test. It was determined that we ought to discontinue (the multiple choice) method if we are serious about preparing students for the 21st Century--the multi-choice bubble won’t do it. Life and work are serious shades of gray and we need more than anything else to get students to think critically and address complicated problems. . . . Part of my legislation to reauthorize this program would broaden the group that is selecting test questions . . . so it would involve parents and citizens in addition to educators.”

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Billy Pricer, president of the Antelope Valley Union High School District board, who voted not to administer the CLAS test:

“That’s what local control is all about. If something is flawed, incorrect or inappropriate, the board still legally has the right (to refuse to comply) until other legislation is pushed through. . . . We’ve had traditional tests that we’ve used for years that really seem to do the job to measure academics. . . . The CLAS tests are basically done by story lines and prompts, so there are actually no absolutes, no correct answers, but it prompts you towards the answers they want. The old tests had absolute answers. . . . This one does not test academics. I’ve talked with college professors who say this test does nothing to measure learning mathematically.”