State Mandate on Practice Test Angers Educators

Ventura County educators are criticizing the state for requiring them to administer a practice high school exit exam next month, even though the results may be of little use in gauging whether students are on track for graduation.

The exam, initially intended as the first chance for the Class of 2004 to pass California’s new graduation requirement, is now expected to be declared a dry run by the Legislature in coming weeks.

Lawmakers may also delay for a year the start date for the new requirement, making this year’s eighth-graders the first who must pass the exam during their high school years to earn a diploma beginning in 2005.

Faced with a test that doesn’t count, or worse, that may never be required of today’s freshman class as initially planned, county educators say the ninth-graders taking the two-day exam this semester will have little incentive to perform well.

“The motivation for sitting there and doing their best for six hours is questionable,” said Richard Simpson, assistant superintendent for the Conejo Valley Unified School District. “I’ll tell you, there is a huge motivation difference compared to a few weeks ago when they were told this is [needed] to graduate.”

State education officials say they will require schools to administer the math and English test to freshmen--who will take the test on a voluntary basis--in order to get baseline data on what skills students are lacking as they prepare for the mandatory exam.

But school officials across Ventura County question whether much valuable information will be gleaned from test results if the students perceive it as meaningless and worth little effort. The state isn’t expected to set the threshold passing score on the exam until next year.

“I think the data they’re going to get is going to be skewed,” Ventura Unified Assistant Supt. Jerry Dannenberg said. “If there are no consequences, I’m sure students will approach it with a different mind-set. It’s just not well thought out at the state level.”

Local administrators also said the exam, scheduled for March 7 and 13, would use up valuable time needed to prepare for the statewide Stanford 9 test in April. Schools are eligible for monetary rewards if scores on that test improve sufficiently to meet state-imposed growth targets.

“We want them to focus on the Stanford 9,” said Gary Davis, assistant superintendent for the Oxnard Union High School District. “The exit exam right now is not high stakes like the Stanford 9.”

Davis also said with the two major exams back-to-back in consecutive months, students may develop test fatigue.

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Development of an exit exam is part of Gov. Gray Davis’ efforts to boost the lackluster academic performance of the state’s students. Assessment tests show more than half of California students tested performed below the national average.

Davis and the State Board of Education last month recommended making the test easier and shorter than initially planned after concerns were raised that it could not withstand legal challenges if too many students flunk.

Several students in Texas filed suit against that state after failing an exit exam there. While a federal judge ruled in favor of Texas, California officials have expressed concern they could face similar lawsuits.

The California exit exam covers math standards through first-year algebra and reading and writing standards through the 10th grade. Changes recently proposed would eliminate the toughest algebra questions and shorten the test from eight hours to six.

Those alterations and a recommendation to treat the March exam as a practice test require urgency legislation, which is expected to pass. The education committee in the state Senate recently approved delaying the start date for the new graduation requirement until 2005, a move opposed by the governor.

Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo), who wrote the bill creating the exit exam, said he sympathized with educators trying to motivate students to take the voluntary test, but said he was confident the teachers would succeed.

“We want to get the best possible census,” said O’Connell, whose district includes Santa Paula, Ventura and Ojai. “It will help with our preparation for the test and make it legally defensible.”

But Jan Chladek, a consultant for the State Department of Education, said she was frustrated some legislators were attempting to postpone the start date until 2005, one year after this year’s ninth-graders will graduate.

“You won’t have any motivation at all to take the test if you knew you never had to worry about passing it,” Chladek said. “And probably not very many of the kids will show up.”

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To get around that situation, Conejo Unified will require all ninth-graders to take the exam, Simpson said.

But most other districts in the county will treat the test as voluntary but encourage students to take it anyway.

“We’ll strongly recommend they take it . . . but it’s a Catch-22,” said Beth Fruchey, director of special projects for Ventura Unified. “We want to get valid results, but when it’s not required and there are no consequences--how do we get those results?”