Only 460 Show Up to Take CLAS Test in Antelope Valley : Education: Most of the 3,000 sophomores chose not to do disputed exam because it conflicted with finals.

The Antelope Valley Union High School District, ordered by a judge to give its students the controversial California Learning Assessment System test, offered it Friday but only 460 of 3,000 sophomores chose to take it.

While conservative ideological views drove a majority of the district’s board in their unsuccessful effort to prevent the test from being given, most students decided not to take it because it conflicted with final exams.

The test was given on the last day of classes before the official start of finals, which begin Monday and continue through the final day of school on Wednesday.

“I have a French final in first period, a 100-point presentation in math and have to do a dissection in biology--a frog,” said Karina Andrade, a student at Antelope Valley High who said she had wanted to take the assessment test but could not afford to miss her classes Friday. “It should have been given before this time of year.”

She added, “My parents don’t disagree with it or anything.”

Students who took the CLAS test said they were motivated by a variety of reasons, with many saying they were unhappy the school board prevented them from taking it earlier.

Evan Brown said he was taking the test to “see what all the big fuss is about, why everybody is so scared of this thing.”

Supporters of the test have praised it as a revolutionary method of measuring students’ critical thinking skills, while opponents have said it asks inappropriate questions, fails to test basic skills and includes literature that promotes racism and denigrates the family.

Board President Billy Pricer, along with members Sue Stokka and Tony Welch, questioned the veil of secrecy surrounding the test, said it contained questions that violated privacy rights of students and their parents and contained reading passages that challenge morals.

The Antelope Valley district administered the CLAS test only after being ordered twice to do so in the past week by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Diane Wayne.

After taking it, students at Highland High School said Friday afternoon they were not sure why the test has become so embroiled in controversy.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” said Travis Fox. “It’s not all that they made it out to be with the racial and ethnic things.”

What Travis said the test does do is “make you think. I think they’re just asking you to think.”

Abby Buffalo agreed. “They made a really big deal out of nothing. Nothing that I read in there is offensive.”

Her only complaints about CLAS: “It’s long, it’s boring and we had to sit on bleachers (to take it).”

Just how many students in the Antelope Valley district avoided the test because of their concerns or those of their parents about the exam’s contents is unknown. Principals at the district’s six schools did not ask students the reasons why they were not taking the test and, for the most part, none were given.

At the district’s most populous high school, just 49 of 650 10th-graders took the exam. At the district’s continuation school, which has 60 students in the 10th grade, teachers didn’t even open the sealed box of tests. Despite being offered free soda and candy, not a single student at the school chose to take CLAS, said Principal Beverley Louw.

“They’re not against the test,” Louw said of her students. “It’s just that if they don’t have to take it, they figure they shouldn’t take it.”

The sparse turnout made it unlikely that test results, which are compiled by school and district, will be reliable. Just 15% of the district’s sophomores took the test.

“Yes, there’s possibly a problem here,” said Gerry Shelton, a consultant to the state Department of Education on the CLAS test. The state will have to evaluate the sample size and whether the students who took it are representative of the entire school. “When we do have the data, we’re going to look school-by-school at this issue and make a determination.”

Although the Department of Education agreed in April to allow parents to keep their children from taking the test, spokeswoman Susie Lange said at least 90% of the students statewide in fourth, fifth, eighth and 10th grades are expected to take it.

While there have been some districts that have had 10% or even 20% of students not take CLAS, Shelton said he is not aware of any that had 85% opt out as is the case with the Antelope Valley district.