One School District Decides Its Own Test Is Still Best

While educators complain of a wide range of problems with the Stanford 9 test, the Capistrano Unified School District has quietly kept its own testing system, which administrators there say has none of the weak points of the statewide standardized test.

The district administers the Capistrano Objective for Reading Excellence exam to students in second through eighth grades once in the fall and once in the spring.

“The . . . test went along smoothly--there were no glitches and no problems, no delays and mistakes,” said Jeff Bristow, director of testing and evaluation for the district.

“Out of 30,000 parents, we really didn’t have any complaints.”

By contrast, widespread testing errors by the Stanford exam publisher, Harcourt Educational Measurement, twice delayed the state’s release of test scores for many school districts. They were due to be made public by June 30 but were not released until three weeks later.

First, the publisher mixed together the scores of English learners of varying abilities, which should have been kept separate.

That mistake inflated the reported results for students learning English and lowered those for fluent English speakers.

Then state Department of Education officials announced that the possible miscalculation of test scores for 44 school districts, including Capistrano and Santa Ana, would further delay the release of scores for another week.

Bad experiences with the Stanford 9 “made me glad we didn’t drop the [Capistrano] test,” Supt. James A. Fleming said. “We were thinking about that because keeping it costs $200,000.”

Working with Northwest Evaluation Associates, a test development company, Capistrano developed the test in 1994-95 after the demise of the statewide California Learning Assessment System.

At that time, the state offered incentive money to school districts to create a standardized test on their own. Ultimately the state approved 55 such exams.

Off-the-shelf publisher’s tests are created to be marketable in as many places as possible--which means they cannot test the specifics of one district’s or state’s chosen curriculum, said Gerry Shelton, an administrator in the California testing program.

For example, fourth-grade history lessons in California center on early California life, including establishment of the missions and the Gold Rush. No national standardized test will delve into the specifics of those lessons, he said.

“Keep in the back of the mind how Capo developed this--it was custom-made to the district,” Shelton said.

Should district officials “rely solely on test scores that test nothing on their fourth-grade curriculum to tell them exactly where they are?” Shelton asked.

In most cases when evaluating student performance, the Capistrano district relies on its own test, not the Stanford 9.

The district also uses students’ performance on the test--not the Stanford 9--as one tool for determining promotion and retention.

“The . . . test is a wonderful test to show the real growth that a student is having and the learning that happens from fall to spring, year to year,” said Board of Trustees Vice President Shelia Henness.

If the district could administer just one standardized test?

“We use the Stanford 9 because it’s the law,” said Bristow, Capistrano’s testing and evaluation director. “If we had a choice between the two we would certainly stick with the [Capistrano] test.”