Furor Continues to Build Over State’s CLAS Exams : Schools: Critics insist tests invade privacy and convey inappropriate ideas. But support remains generally strong.

Just a few weeks ago California’s pioneering new system of student testing was widely hailed as a key step forward in education reform. Its critics were dismissed as vociferous but few, mostly strongly religious parents who objected that the exams espoused offensive values.

But although the California Learning Assessment System exams, currently being given to more than 1 million public school students, continue to enjoy strong support among educators and legislators, the voices of the critics have risen in volume and fed a growing furor across the state.

Bipartisan support in the Legislature for the exams has shown signs of eroding in the face of an organized campaign by conservative and religious organizations. At least four school districts have decided not to administer the tests, and several others suspended testing until board members could review the exams’ contents.

At the core of the dispute are complaints by some parents and activists that materials used in the exams--reading selections, questions that probe students’ reactions and essays about students’ lives--invade privacy and expose youngsters to inappropriate ideas.

State education officials and supporters such as the PTA insist that the tests neither violate privacy of families nor promote controversial ideas--and instead are the best tools ever used in California to measure how well students learn and to improve the quality of schools.

“This is so much more academic than anything we had before, I think it’s really good and I’m glad my son is taking it,” said Suzie Swartz, whose son attends fourth grade at Del Cerro Elementary in Mission Viejo.

The state’s insistence that actual tests remain confidential--at least while they are being given in public schools statewide--has fueled the controversy. Some parents say they are suspicious that the state is keeping the tests under wraps--except for samples of previous exams--to avoid scrutiny.

“Because of all the secrecy, my trust has really been shaken,” said Mission Viejo parent Lana Simning, who asked to have her eighth-grade son exempted from the testing after disliking what she read in the sample questions.

The eighth-grade sample asks students to read about Albert Einstein, then discuss and write about what they read. Among the assignments based on the passage are to “write about a person you listen to and respect” and to “write about a friend.” State officials say these are proven methods to help determine how well a youngster has understood the reading and can connect it with real-life experiences.

A hearing scheduled today in Los Angeles Superior Court is expected to help resolve the privacy issue. A suit brought by a conservative legal organization on behalf of parents seeks to require that Los Angeles schools get parents’ written permission before administering the tests.

The CLAS tests, authorized by the Legislature in 1991 as part of a comprehensive effort to improve public education, are a dramatic departure from traditional testing. Students are asked to read stories, poems or essays and write about them as well as respond in writing to real-life math problems. They are graded against high statewide standards.

The approach is heralded by education reformers and business leaders, who say the standards will help schools improve. But critics say the new methods fail to test academic skills and attack traditional values by encouraging students to think about controversial topics.

Critics have packed local school board meetings, petitioned the state to eliminate test items, urged parents to boycott the exams and circulated documents they say are leaked portions of this year’s tests.

“My biggest concern is that I don’t know enough about it, and what I have heard has me worried,” said Paula Nafziger of Diamond Bar, who kept her fourth-grade daughter home this week while Maple Hill Elementary administered the exams. She and a few other parents also picketed outside the school, urging other parents to keep youngsters home so the school would lose state funding based on attendance.

State officials said they believe no copyrighted tests have “fallen into unauthorized hands.” Other school officials say the opponents are circulating early copies of tests that have been abandoned or questions that were never intended to be used.

In a move to defuse some of the criticism, state Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), author of the legislation that created the CLAS program, has proposed creating an independent review panel to ensure that no question relates to personal beliefs in family life, sex, morality or religion.

He said the broad political support enjoyed by the CLAS tests has begun to slip as legislators hear from critics, endangering future funding. Sen. Bill Leonard (R-Big Bear) recently awarded the education department his monthly “Golden Fleece Award,” calling CLAS an “inappropriate test” that wastes taxpayers’ money.

“I’m a little bit bewildered by the intensity of the feelings,” Hart said. “Here is a test that does not determine whether you get an A or an F . . . or whether you get into Berkeley or Stanford. . . . It’s meant to tell us something about school performance and to encourage teachers to reach for higher levels.”

Even some CLAS supporters have joined in criticizing the state Department of Education’s handling of the exams. The most vocal is the California School Boards Assn., which issued a statement Thursday saying the department is jeopardizing the future of the exam process.

School Boards Assn. President Sherry Loofbourrow, while noting that the organization continues to support the “basic philosophy and direction of the CLAS test,” said several school board members who have seen this year’s tests “have serious questions about portions of the reading and writing sections.”

Loofbourrow’s district, Newport-Mesa Unified in Orange County, is scheduled to vote today on whether to cancel the test for its students.

Four other districts--Antelope Valley Union High, Soledad-Agua Dulce Union Elementary, Flournoy Union Elementary in Tehama County and Monterey Peninsula Unified--have refused to administer the exams.

Across the state, local school board members “were put in the position of having to defend something we had not seen, and people thought there was something to hide,” said Barbara Ryan, president of the Santee Elementary Board of Education in San Diego County. Santee trustees were the first to look at the exams, and then voted 4 to 1 to give the tests.

Further stirring some parents’ concerns is an addition to the scoring guidelines that tells school officials they have a duty under the state penal code to report possible child abuse. The guidelines also warn scorers that some children may use the exam to write about sensitive issues.

The guidelines require test scorers to send state officials “any essays containing information about sensitive issues, such as child abuse, threat of suicide and violence. . . . The appropriate child protective agency and/or school district or school site personnel will be notified about the sensitive issue presented in the assessment.”

The education department, and many CLAS supporters, say the real object of the CLAS critics is to destroy the exam system.

“They hate this kind of testing and want to see it destroyed,” said Susie Lange, spokeswoman for the education department. “I’m talking about the instigators of this who have behind them a well-organized, well-financed effort to destroy this test.”

“This has all along been about efforts of the religious right to undermine public education rather than just about the CLAS test itself,” said Jean Hessburg, California director of People for the American Way, a liberal group that monitors the critics.

Hessburg said groups leading the fight against CLAS in California are also involved around the nation in anti-textbook fights, battles against school health clinics and efforts to have creationism taught in science classes.

Among those who are active in the campaign against CLAS are the Rutherford Institute, based in Charlottesville, Va., a religious liberties defense organization that has argued for students’ rights to pray at school and fought against condom distribution at public campuses. The United States Justice Foundation, headquartered in Escondido, said it provides conservative attorneys nationwide to battle for individual rights. More than two dozen suits aimed at halting the CLAS exams have been brought by one or the other of these two organizations.

The Eagle Forum of Washington, founded by conservative author and activist Phyllis Schlafly, has also been active in the effort. The organization has campaigned against a widely used new reading textbook. Its California director, Carolyn Steinke, is a leader in opposing the tests.

Brad Dacus, western regional coordinator for the Rutherford Institute, which also filed suits in Michigan and Texas over exams, said his organization views the fight over the exams as part of a much bigger cause.

“The CLAS test is a part of a bigger picture in which parents all across the nation are having to be challenged with . . . efforts by the state and federal governments to usurp their fundamental rights as parents,” Dacus said.

Times staff writers Jodi Wilgoren, Sandy Banks and Beth Shuster contributed to this story.

Sample Test: 10th-Grade Language Arts

Some parents have voiced doubts about the content of the California Learning Assessment System tests. Questions on this year’s tests are confidential, but the state Department of Education has released samples of past tests, saying they reflect the current material.

Below is a complete sample test in reading and writing for 10th-graders. Students write their responses in pencil in test booklets, which are scored by trained teachers. Scorers are told to evaluate how well students understand what they read and their ability to communicate through writing.

In the sample, students begin by reading an approximately 1,900-word excerpt from “Black Boy,” Richard Wright’s autobiography of growing up African American in the South in the 1920s. The excerpt deals with Wright’s attempt to check out books from a segregated public library.

Section One: Reading

* What is your response to the excerpt from this autobiography? Take a few minutes to write any thoughts, questions or opinions you may have.

* Choose one of the following quotations from the reading selection to write about. Explain what it might mean in the selection, what it means to you, how you feel about it, or any other comments you may have.

A. “He was using words as weapons. . . . Could words be weapons?”

B. “. . . I hungered for books, new ways of looking and seeing.”

* An “open mind” is an outline of a head that lets you show what a character might be thinking or feeling. In the “open mind” below use symbols, images, drawings and/or words to show what Richard Wright might have been thinking or feeling.

* What were Richard Wright’s reactions to the books he read?

* At the end of the story, Richard Wright speculates about the kind of future he will choose to have. What do you think he will choose? Why do you think he will make these choices?

* This is your chance to tell anything else you want about your understanding of this autobiographical selection--what it means to you, what it reminds you of, how it relates to your own life or whatever else you think is important about this reading selection.

* Section Two: Group Work (Students break into groups of four to discuss the reading, then respond to test items . )

* Draw or sketch one image or idea that you remember from the reading selection. When you are finished, share your image or idea with the rest of your group.

* Richard Wright says, “It was not a matter of believing or disbelieving what I read, but of feeling something new, of being affected by something that made the look of the world different.” In your group, talk about what you think Wright means by this statement. Write down the ideas from each group member.

* Recall the thoughts that you had in Section One as you speculated about Richard Wright’s future. Share the ideas with your entire group.

* Think about two changes that have occurred in your own life. List or draw them in Column One. In Column Two, write what happened as a result of the changes.

* Now share these changes and their effects on your life with your group. Take notes as the members of your group discuss the changes that occurred in their lives.

* Sometimes major changes in our lives are caused by an encounter with a person. Think of a person who has triggered a change in your life. Discuss this person with your group.

* Section Three: Writing (Students work independently)

This is a test of your writing ability. You will be able to do a better job if you spend a few minutes planning. You may use the notes and ideas you wrote down for Section Two of this test when you worked in your groups.

Writing Situation

“Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal.” An obstacle is something that gets in the way of your achieving a goal. In “Black Boy,” you read about the obstacles in Richard Wright’s life.

Your English teacher has asked you to write an essay reflecting on how people respond to obstacles in their lives. Think about specific occasions in your life when you faced obstacles, or when you observed someone else dealing with an obstacle. Think about obstacles faced by characters in books or movies. You may look back at the notes from your group discussion to help you get started.

Directions for Writing

Write an essay reflecting on how people deal with obstacles. You might use your own experience or observations as a specific occasion for reflecting on your ideas. In your essay, explore whatever ideas occur to you about this subject. You do not have to convince your teacher that your ideas are “right,” but your comments should be presented in a thoughtful way.