EDUCATION WATCH : Clas Act

The California Learning Assessment System, the innovative testing system for public school students, is in grave jeopardy of premature political death. It deserves better. More important, California schoolchildren deserve better.

Gov. Pete Wilson, if he signs SB 1273, by Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), will continue the CLAS tests and demonstrate that California is still committed to educational excellence. Already the academically demanding tests have been administered to more than 2 million students in the fourth, fifth, eighth and 10th grades. SB 1273 would address legitimate criticisms of the test without killing what is good. And there is indeed a lot of good in the CLAS tests worth saving, because they help kids translate learning into thinking. Under Hart’s bill, the familiar and traditional multiple choice questions would remain, but so would essay and performance-based questions that elicit more than cookie-cutter responses.

The heralded tests ran into trouble this year after there were controversies involving scoring and objections were sounded over reading selection content. Much of the criticism was driven by religious extremists; some of the protest pointed to legitimate questions about privacy and about the administration of the test. SB 1273 has addressed those shortcomings, and that’s why it has won the support of educators throughout the state.

As a matter of fact, Gov. Wilson’s own appointed state Board of Education has urged him to sign the bill. Surely he trusts his own board’s judgment; surely he will follow its advice.