State Test to Assess Learning Signed Into Law

Late next spring, more than 4 million California public school students will pick up their No. 2 pencils and sweat their way through a new test that will be required under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Pete Wilson.

When the results are in sometime next summer, Wilson and other supporters hope that the comparable tests given to every student in grades 2 through 11 will identify the strengths and weaknesses in a beleaguered California education system.

There has never been such a test. And without one, complains Wilson, it is impossible to tell whether the state’s $32-billion annual education budget is being spent effectively.

“It is certainly every parent’s demand that our schools stand for nothing less than high hopes and high achievement,” Wilson said at a bill-signing ceremony in his office. “We must assure that every school meets the basic test of accountability.”

The testing bill is the final product of a lengthy and bruising battle that pitted the governor and many of his Republican colleagues against the Legislature’s Democratic leadership and their allies in the education community.

The bill (SB 376) passed narrowly on the final day of the legislative session only after Wilson used his line-item-veto authority to remove--and hold hostage--nearly $200 million earmarked for Democratic projects.

On Tuesday, Wilson’s aides said the governor now will restore most of those funds. They said, however, that he will not approve pet projects of lawmakers who voted against the testing plan.

Critics of the test complained that the annual $36-million cost was too high, that it would penalize the school districts that already pay for their own testing, and that it might not be compatible with new academic standards that are still under review by state educators.

But Wilson dismissed those complaints. He charged that the primary opposition is from teachers unions that do not want their members held accountable by a testing system that might indicate a teacher’s performance.

Tuesday’s bill-signing ceremony showed that tensions over the testing issue are still running high.

Democrats--including state Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin and the two main authors of the legislation, Assemblywoman Kerry Mazzoni (D-San Rafael) and Sen. Dede Alpert (D-Coronado)--did not attend the event. Both legislators were reported to be out of state on vacations.

Wilson still praised Mazzoni and Alpert, but he lashed out at teachers groups, particularly his longtime political nemesis, the California Teachers Assn., that have continued to criticize the testing plan.

“Parents should not think ill of teachers,” he said. “But parents and teachers should think ill of the union because here is an organization that is presumably devoted to children and it has failed them miserably, which can only give rise to the inference that they are more interested in protecting mediocre teachers than encouraging excellence in their students.”

Lois Tinson, president of the union, responded that its officials were not invited to the bill signing Tuesday. She also said the governor is opposed by “the entire education community”--not just California Teachers Assn.

“If anyone’s behavior on this issue is disgraceful, it is the governor’s,” Tinson said. “He’s insisted on an off-the-shelf test that simply will not give us the information we need to improve instruction.”

Now that the test is law, the focus shifts to Eastin. She is required to select a test from a private vendor by Oct. 31 and recommend it to the State Board of Education. The board will make a final selection at its Nov. 14 meeting.

The legislation requires that students take the new test by the end of May. The company selected to conduct and score the test is required to provide the results and analysis by June 30.

The test will cover math, reading, written expression and spelling for students in grades 2 through 6. In grades 7 through 11, the exam will include those subjects plus history, social studies and science.

With the new test, California will join 41 other states that now mandate that all of their students take achievement exams, in at least some grades. In addition, Congress is considering a Clinton administration proposal to establish a voluntary national reading test in the fourth grade and a math test in the eighth grade.

Such proposals, however, have created a backlash, prompting some critics to say that the recent nationwide emphasis on student testing is squeezing out instructional time. Some studies show that American students take three to nine standardized tests annually.

California is already poised to enact one more test based on a set of academic standards that educators are scheduled to adopt early next year.

Eastin and California Teachers Assn. officials complained Tuesday that Wilson should have waited to adopt his testing plan until after the academic standards are established. Otherwise, they said, the state will need two standardized tests or it will have to change the governor’s test as soon as a year after it is started.

“All we wanted him to do is wait until the standards were adopted,” Eastin said. “So my only complaint is about some of the political machinations that went into the timing.”

Lesher reported from Sacramento and Colvin from Los Angeles.