Testing changes coming for students

-- Suzie Harrison

Laguna Beach students will see a change in testing after this spring.

Students in grade two through 11 will no longer be subjected to the

SAT-9 test that has been used to evaluate school performance.

Now, students will answer questions on the California Achievement

Test, or CAT-6.

California Department of Education officials said the main reason they

chose this particular standardized test is that it’s developed by the

same company that is creating the California Standards Test and already

administers the high school exit exam.

Officials also are assuring educators, and the public, that the new

standardized test will be aligned with the California State Standards

that schools have used to design curriculum over the past few

years.”There should be no difference except the content might be worded

differently because it was written by a different company,” said

Christine Gonzales, from the assessment office at the Orange County

Department of Education. “It should essentially be the same because it’s

the norm reference test. It serves the same purpose.”