Every school district can come up with its own criteria to determine which students will be held back.
The law calls for districts to use "multiple measures" to judge student progress. However, according to a California Department of Education publication, it also states that the need for retention may be determined by the "results of the STAR test and the minimum levels of proficiency recommended by the State Board of Education … and [such measures] shall be adopted only after the STAR tests have been aligned … to the State Board of Education adopted content and performance standards."
The STAR test, or SAT-9, has not yet been aligned to California's content and performance standards. But that hasn't stopped many districts from using standardized test results as a criterion when deciding which students to promote or retain. In most cases, test scores are only part of the criteria. Among the districts that include SAT-9 results in determining retention and promotion are La Habra, Oakland, San Juan Unified and Huntington Beach.
In Los Angeles, UTLA members fought against using standardized test scores, charging they are culturally biased. In Citrus Heights, San Juan Teachers Association members fought successfully to lower the importance placed on SAT-9 tests.
"Originally, the district was thinking that by the end of middle school, students should be judged just on the SAT-9," says Nancy Waltz, president of the San Juan Teachers Association. "SJTA fought that. Now, students are judged on multiple measures. If the SAT-9 measures just 10 percent of what is taught in the class, it's ridiculous."
"SAT-9 scores should not be the deciding factor," agrees Joyce Lewke, a CTA Board member who serves on CTA's Student Retention Workgroup. "I think they can be used to some degree. But teacher judgment is more important than the test and other assessments. Kids can be scared to death and fill the bubbles in the wrong places. So many things can go wrong with one simple test.
Many fear that too many English language learners are being held back. Teachers say the part of the law regarding these students is vague and full of doublespeak: "With the passage of Proposition 227, state law now allows programs to be designed primarily to teach English Learner pupils English first and academic content second. Districts that offer such programs are cautioned that it is clearly inappropriate to retain English Learners who have failed to meet academic standards in areas in which they have been provided only limited instruction. It would not be unreasonable, on the other hand, to consider many English Learners at risk of retention based solely on the challenges they face in acquiring proficiency and mastering subject area content in English."
In some districts large numbers of English language learners have been retained, while other districts, such as Anaheim City, try not to retain students who haven't mastered the language. Los Angles policy sets minimum performance levels for ESL students at various proficiency levels - from totally non-English-speaking to those who have transitioned into mainstream classes - which partially determines retention.
At Oak View Elementary School in Huntington Beach, where nearly all students are Hispanic and a third of the student body was retained, prior education was a stronger predictor of academic success than a student's ability to speak English, says Elizabeth Garcia, a fourth-grade teacher and a member of the Ocean View Teachers Association.
"We've had kids come straight from Mexico and pass everybody in reading and writing because they had a solid foundation in their own native language and were able to build upon that."
Lucille Serrano, a member of the Montebello Teachers Association who serves on CTA's Student Retention Workgroup, thinks the retention of children who speak a second language has to be done "very, very carefully."
"We must provide them with the tools to show they understand information and we must have a way to measure their understanding. It's not that these kids lack cognitive abilities; they just don't have the language ability to process information."
She thinks schools should have a good review board of people who understand language development before a decision is made to retain second-language learners. "Students must not be retained solely on the fact that they don't grasp the language. We have gotten rid of bilingual education, but we can't ignore the problem. We have to figure out other interventions to help meet the needs of these kids."
