STAR might just as well stand for Simply Terrible And Ridiculous, because that's exactly what the test is.
To begin with, the test is set up all wrong. It is not aligned with California academic standards, curriculum, or textbooks. The test presumes English language proficiency, although everyone at all familiar with our schools knows that 1.3 million of our students are English language learners. For them, the test might as well be in a foreign language entirely. Equally foolish, the second-grade test has a 90-minute math exam, but the high school science test section takes only 40 minutes. Any teacher could tell you those tests cannot possibly provide accurate results.
But no one bothered to consult the teachers. Instead, the test was given to more than 4 million California students - almost every student in grades 2 through 11. When teachers protested giving the test to English language learners, Governor Gray Davis insulted every teacher by saying in a Nov. 9 speech to the California State Board of Education that if English language learners were not required to take the test in English, teachers would ignore them and teach only English-speaking children.
Unfortunately, we can't disregard the test itself. We get compared to others because California scores are compared to the national sample norm. The unfairness of the method is obvious: only 2 percent of the national norming group are limited or non-English speaking, whereas in California, 21 percent of the test-takers fall into that category.
Testing authorities include poverty as a major factor in a child's academic achievement, noting that "economic background is an important predictor of student performance on standardized tests." Governor Davis wants to discount poverty - no wonder, since California kids sadly exceed the national norm: 35 percent of our children are considered low income, compared to 29 percent of the national test norming sample. It is disgraceful that even 29 percent, let alone 35 percent, of America's children are poor while living in the richest country in the history of the world (and in the middle of what they tell us is a booming economy no less). It's even more disgraceful that our governor doesn't consider that fact a serious part of a child's educational performance.
Yet another factor must be considered when we look at the results of STAR tests: California's class size ranks 49th, meaning all those other states have smaller classes than we do. Add to that the fact that our state ranks 44th out of 50 in school funding - we spend $1,000 per student a year less than the national average. Then add to this mountain of trouble the fact that unprofessional salary levels and working conditions have discouraged teachers to the point that we have a genuine shortage of fully accredited teachers for our classrooms, and you know that our scores are going to be affected.
Still another problem bound to skew test scores is overcrowding. One example is Anaheim Elementary School District, where the entire district is on a year-round schedule and 80 percent of the schools are on double session. Many schools have 99 percent of their kids on the free lunch program. Despite all this, the teachers in Anaheim, like California teachers everywhere, are making a huge effort to educate all their children, and are getting the job done.
Teachers have told me that one reason kids in the 9th, 10th and 11th grades score lower is not that they suddenly get dumb; on the contrary, they wise up. When they figure out the test doesn't affect their grade - or anything else for that matter - and they hit difficulty on the test, which, remember, is not aligned to what they've been studying in their classes, they bubble in the answer sheet with designs, initials, anything to fill it in and get it over with.
Yet, despite all the flaws in the test itself, despite comparing California kids to a national norming sample that does not fit, despite all these factors that should make the California STAR test results so low as to be totally invalid, California teachers worked another miracle. Your teaching led 4 million kids to score at the 40th percentile nationally, and if you take out the limited and non-English- speaking kids' scores, we came in at the 50th percentile nationally. Despite all the problems, the 1999 test results showed improved scores in every grade in math and all but one grade in reading. That's nothing short of amazing.
Notice that neither the governor nor any other major speaker on education, the hot topic of politics this year, has bothered to congratulate us on a job so well done. No, the teacher bashing continues - that's our reward. Do a great job under adverse conditions and you get slapped down for all your hard work and your success is ignored.
The inescapable conclusion on the '98-99 STAR test results is that California teachers did an amazing job, and you did it under impossible circumstances. You coped with Simply Terrible And Ridiculous, despite abuse and teacher bashing and the fact that you knew, as the "experts" did not, that the testing program was doomed by its own shortcomings. Make no mistake about it: you produced results on the test, and you produce results every day for 6 million kids. Nobody does it better than you. Hang in there and don't weaken! The fight to make things right and make the public understand just how good you are and reward you for your work has just begun.
