S.F. Schools Agree to Give Stanford 9 Test to Limited-English Students

Ending a two-year legal battle, the San Francisco Unified School District has agreed to give the Stanford 9 achievement test next spring to thousands of students who are not yet fluent in English.

The change of heart, part of a settlement announced last week, followed a promise by the state Board of Education to clarify a regulation about testing exemptions. The rewritten rule makes clear that districts and teachers may discuss with parents the educational value and other aspects of the standardized exam and inform them about how to seek waivers for their children. In the past, that right was only implied.

San Francisco had refused to administer the test to students with only a limited grasp of English.

“Even with this clarification, districts still may not advocate that students be exempted,” said Doug Stone, a spokesman for the state Department of Education. It would still be up to the parents to decide whether to seek an exemption.

In 1998, the state Department of Education sued San Francisco over its failure to test nearly 6,000 students with limited fluency in English. The district in turn challenged the state’s testing requirement, contending that it violated those students’ civil rights. Oakland, Berkeley and Hayward joined the suit. The case was to have come to trial Monday.

Schools statewide must test a high percentage of students to qualify for awards under the state’s nascent accountability system, and some of San Francisco’s schools had fallen well below the required levels.