County Issue California Learning Assessment System Test

Some educators have criticized the California Learning Assessment System test for asking math questions that are too hard and setting standards that are too high. They

also think that performances should be judged by comparing schools with each other rather than with preset standards. Which method do you think is appropriate?

* Alice Humbertson

Conejo Council PTA member; mother of two children in public schools

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being judged against tough standards. Those standards raise people’s level of expectation and you get better performance. High performance is what you want,the best the students can possibly give. As far as the math questions being too difficult, from what I have seen, it reflects that there needs to be a change in the way teaching is being done. I see those two as very closely related. When I saw a sample of the math questions, I thought they were very difficult. At present, that’s not the way the kids are taught. I think there needs to be a lot more emphasis on critical thinking, and I think it’s going to take a long time for that to take place. It’s what you hear the business community asking for in our graduates: Give us people who can think, people who can write. It’s preparing them for the real world. One thing I think that is not so good about CLAS testing is that they are hand-scored. That takes a long time. It is also very expensive. I don’t know how anyone can object to high performance standards.

* Robert Rexford

Trustee, Pleasant Valley Elementary School District

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The more tests they take like these as they head toward college, the better. Because then they will already have experience taking a test in this format, which is similar to a college entrance exam. My interest is that the thinking skills will reflect the use of math to solve real-world problems, something they will find in the workplace. The curriculum now is emphasizing changes that are sweeping through the schools at all levels, particularly at the elementary school. They are moving from emphasis on number-crunching, or computations, to hands-on problem solving. They help students understand spatial, abstract concepts. If you want to teach a child how much carpet to put in a house, the old way would be to do some formulas and come up with a number. The new way is to take some pieces of paper and see if you can cut it up in the right pieces so they will fit into the rooms. These test results are not about blaming. This is saying we want to teach our students to a certain standard. We want them to be ready for the 21st Century.

* Tony Knight

Principal, Oak Hills School, Oak Park

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I think the CLAS test is excellent. I don’t think the questions are too hard or that they are unrealistic. It’s the first test that really gives us information that we, as educators, need. This test has kids not just doing computations, but they have to demonstrate pretty strong in-depth understanding of mathematical ideas. In my school, for example, we did well in reading and writing, but I was not thrilled with the math scores. And it is telling us we have a long way to go in reaching standards on math. When you compare against other schools, all it tells you is how you are doing against the other schools in California. Today, we are competing beyond California. We are competing with the world. We hear that American kids, when randomly tested, don’t score well against kids internationally. We need to work harder. Some people are disappointed in the scores, but now we know where we are going. I have no doubt that statewide, and in our school district, they will get better. We will be giving kids something that is meaningful and worthwhile.

* Pamela Martens

Assistant superintendent of curriculum, Ojai Unified School District *

I think in one sense it would have been nice to be tested after having the materials and instructional strategies for a couple of years. That’s what was done with the reading and writing, and that gave us a better picture of what is going on in the schools. The math scores look so negative because we weren’t prepared. But teachers are now aware of what the questions will look like from now on and will gear their teaching strategies and material to that test. That is not teaching to a test. If you are being told you need good writing skills, then yes, you teach to that. If you are told you are going to be tested in math, not just with computations, but with extensive problem-solving, then yes, that is what you should be teaching children. What we are trying to teach are lifelong skills. I think we need to set high expectations, have high standards and shoot for that for all kids. On the other hand, with the problems that certain areas have with high poverty and things like that, then I think a comparison with other like areas is good because it’s not such a dismal picture.

* Bernard Korenstein

Assistant superintendent for educational services, Oxnard Elementary School District *

I don’t have a problem with the fact that the math questions are difficult, but I think our students should have been given the opportunity to be taught under that structure for a period of time before doing that assessment. The state should have introduced that concept and then allowed for lag time before giving that test. Most people think of math as computational skills. Our district is formulating a new test that will test more basic math skills . . . at the eighth-grade level. Our board is curious to know whether our children can do basic math. That is in direct reaction to the CLAS test. I don’t think the CLAS test as a whole is a fair assessment of what a student may know if that student has recently transitioned into English instruction, because some of them didn’t understand the questions. I didn’t like the old state tests either. It doesn’t give teachers any true assessment of how an individual student is doing. All it does is give a score for a grade level. It does not tell how a child is doing, and that is what a test is for. I hope that they improve upon it in the future.