Pressure Mounts on Wilson to OK New Test for Academic Assessment

Ever since Gov. Pete Wilson refused to extend the state’s controversial CLAS testing program a year ago, California has had no way of knowing what it was getting in return for the more than $27 billion it spends annually for public education.

Now awaiting Wilson’s signature is legislation that would create a statewide student exam to replace CLAS, the ambitious test that won praise in some quarters for measuring students’ ability to think and solve problems, but was criticized by some parents and conservative groups for being “anti-family” and prying too deeply into students’ personal lives.

The governor’s staff helped craft the bill to make sure it addressed those concerns and, in the waning hours of the legislative session, twisted arms to get enough Republican support for passage.

But, in the face of a furious phone-and-fax opposition campaign--orchestrated by veterans of the battle over the California Learning Assessment System, or CLAS--Wilson has yet to decide whether to give it his approval.

That has caused proponents, including the California Business Roundtable, California Chamber of Commerce, state PTA and education groups, to apply their own pressure to get Wilson to support the bill.

“It’s hard for me to imagine in any endeavor where you are trying to improve quality not having an effective measurement system so you can track your progress, and this is what this bill is all about,” said Van Skilling, executive vice president of TRW Inc. and the chairman of the Roundtable’s education task force.

Skilling and other members of the Roundtable have written to Wilson, asking him to sign the bill. And the California School Boards Assn. has delivered at least 400 letters from school board members and superintendents, urging his support.

Before Friday, the bill’s backers had worried that Wilson might try to curry support for his presidential bid by giving in to the political and religious conservatives who opposed the bill. Now that Wilson has withdrawn from the national campaign, he may be more inclined to sign the legislation.

Kristine Berman, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office, said Wilson is expected to make a decision early this week.

“I still have this feeling that the governor will end up signing it when he faces the reality that this . . . really is his bill,” said Kevin Gordon, a lobbyist for the California School Boards Assn., which worked with Wilson’s office to help write the bill, AB 265.

“Although it might appease some people on the far right if he vetoes it, these are not people who will be his allies in the future anyway.”

Sponsored by state Sen. Leroy Greene (D-Carmichael), the bill has several components: It would pay each school district $5 per pupil to administer one of several standardized tests already used in other states. It would authorize the state Department of Education to contract with a private company to create a separate statewide test of both basic skills and higher-order thinking or analytical skills. And it would establish a 21-member commission to write a set of academic standards on which the statewide tests would be based.

Aware of the sensitivity that still exists over CLAS, Greene worked from the beginning to compromise with Wilson and conservative legislators. Late in the summer, however, conservative groups weighed in against the bill, which almost died before barely passing with only five Republican votes.

The opponents, who have dubbed AB 265 “Son of CLAS,” include several conservative policy groups, grass-roots parent groups that emerged from the CLAS battle and Focus on the Family, the conservative Christian coalition based in Colorado.

This past week, Focus on the Family faxed an alert to 2,300 Californians asking them to call Wilson’s office to express opposition to the bill, saying it threatens “to step on California parents’ toes.” An organization affiliated with Focus on the Family, the Sacramento-based Capitol Resource Institute, urged the 20,000 recipients of its monthly newsletter to oppose the measure.

To answer concerns that CLAS violated students’ privacy, the new legislation would prohibit any questions that probe sensitive personal issues, allow parents to opt their children out of any test and create a panel dominated by parents that could block any proposed test item. But opponents have raised other objections.

Sen. Ray Haynes (R-Riverside) initially supported the bill, but said he changed his mind. Like many opponents, he remains wary of letting the state Department of Education oversee creation of the test because of the department’s role in the CLAS debacle.

Furthermore, he said, the test should not be designed until the state has agreed on what academic standards it will measure.

Haynes said he and his allies also are concerned about the nature of the test. Although the test would cover basic skills, much like traditional multiple-choice standardized tests, it also would include a performance-based assessment, requiring students to demonstrate writing or problem-solving skills.

Backers of performance-based testing say it is a powerful tool for change, motivating teachers to teach more in-depth and students to focus on learning how to write and think.

Those opposed to performance-based assessments say the tests are too subjective and don’t allow for accurate comparisons between schools or districts. And they worry that the questions could once again stray into sensitive topics.

“A lot of folks in our coalition are really concerned about . . . a performance-based test because that leaves things really wide open,” Haynes said.

On the other hand, educators say Wilson would hurt his credibility with educators, Democrats and more moderate Republicans if he vetoes the bill, because it is consistent with what he and his staff have said they wanted.

“If he doesn’t sign it . . . he ought to be made to give a clear accounting,” said state schools Supt. Delaine Eastin, who has pushed hard for the bill. “I really and truly am counting on him doing the right thing.”