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Standardized Test Secrecy is a Problem

Under both state and federal mandates, public schools are required to administer standardized tests to students in second through 11th grades.

In California, these high-stakes tests are the California Achievement Test/sixth edition (CAT/6) and the California Standards Test. Test results can have global impact on schools and targeted impact on individual students.

What's riding on these tests? A lot! School and district scores are published in the newspapers. Schools are required to show a 5 percent improvement/growth from year to year.

If schools do not meet their Academic Performance Index each year, it can mean lowered funding, intense scrutiny and, eventually, state sanctions. For individual students, scores may determine placement in classes and programs.

When is testing season? It varies from school to school? Is that equitable for the students? Is it fair for your child? How is the testing window determined?

By law, schools have a 21-day testing window, which falls 10 days before to 10 days after 85 percent of the instructional year has been completed. Since the opening day of school varies among schools, especially in year-round districts, the 85 percent demarcation also varies. School may start anywhere from mid-July to mid-September, hence testing season can fluctuate from mid-April to mid-June.

Sounds equitable so far, but what if some students had access to sample test items after other students had already taken the test?

The state testing system has been evolving since it was first legislated in 1995. The first administration of standardized tests under the State Test and Reporting (STAR) system took place in the spring of 1998. At this time, the accountability system consisted of two parts, the Stanford 9 standardized test and the STAR augmented items.

Schools' scores that first year were based solely on the SAT 9 scores, since the STAR augmentation items, based on the California Content Standards were being piloted. Since 1998, the weighting of the standardized test scores has gradually decreased, as the standards-based portion of the test has taken a dominant role in determining schools' rankings and individual student's achievement.

Throughout this process, the STAR test items, now known as the California Standards Test, have been highly secure. There have not been sample items to help teachers gauge the level of understanding needed to achieve success on these standards-based questions. In fact, the test is so secret that administrators and teachers who handle the test must sign "security agreements."

These affidavits require the teachers to refrain from copying, duplicating, discussing or even reading the test contents. Students are on their own! And teachers are not able to calibrate their teaching to the level of rigor required by these tests.

Educators throughout California have been asking for sample items so that they can give students and parents a vision of the state's expectations. Teachers have been requesting these samples since 1998, in order to better understand the depth of the standards that students are expected to master.

It is accepted practice in several states to release test items to enhance public awareness of school accountability. In the past six years, however, California has released no samples from the STAR augmentation items or the California Standards Test items. Under pressure from legislators, educators and community members, the State Board of Education promised California Standards Test release items in September.

Teachers and school administrators periodically checked the California Department of Education Web site optimistically hoping to provide their students with some model questions. Each month, they faithfully checked the Web site and reminded the State Board of its promise. As the calendar pages fell away and the 85 percent instructional window came into view, most educators gave up looking for the samples and focused on the complex task of test administration.

Awash in the details of security agreements, test administration guidelines, data-coded test sheets and revised daily schedules, most educators didn't notice that on April 16, released test items were posted on the California Department of Education Web site.

For some schools, the testing window had already opened; for others it was a week away; yet, for some, there was a two- to four-week grace period where teachers and students could become familiar with the test format, language and concepts.

What are the implications of this tardy release of test items? Where does equity come into play? Did those items tilt the playing field and favor those schools that just happen to start later and test later? Are the students at your local school sitting ducks in the sea of secrecy surrounding the California Standards Test? How does this midseason release of test items impact your child? It's time to ask some questions!

Sara Munshin, of Los Angeles, is president of the California Mathematics Council. Its Web site is http://www.cmc-math.org.