Superintendent John Deasy

LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy said today that he is uncomfortable with inconsistencies in the current version of Assembly Bill 484, which effectively kills the the state standardized tests, the so-called CSTs, and ushers in the new era of Common Core tests, to be taken on computers.

“We had a unique opportunity in front of us that has both pros and cons,” Deasy told LA School Report. “If we were going to stop the CSTs, which meant having no data for a year, there had to be a pretty compelling reason. For me, it would have been that every student would have the opportunity to take the new tests. If that had been the case, I definitely would have supported it.”

But according to the current version of the bill, the state will provide each school district with only the math or English versions of the new test.

“It appears now that that tradeoff is imbalanced,” said Deasy. “Not only are there no accountability measures, but we’re not going to allow all students to take it.”

Local school districts will still have the option of taking both the math and English tests – but they’ll have to cover the cost for the other one. That’s a pretty penny, since the tests cost between $5 and $6 per student. That would cost LA Unified, which has been lobbying to take both math and English tests, roughly $3.6 million, although that could be paid for with the $113 million in state funds earmarked for the Common Core transition.

That provision hasn’t mollified Deasy.

“So the districts who can afford that, those districts get a leg up?” he said. “As a public policy matter, that’s incredibly fraught with the issues of haves and have nots.”

Deasy said he hopes the measure will be amended so that the state will pay for both tests – and if that happens, he pledged to support the bill.

State Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg was expected to author an amendment that would pay for students to take both math and English tests. According to Superintendent Deasy, that amendment will now not be offered, as it has been deemed too expensive.

“We have to consider what the appropriate next steps will be,” he said.

On a conference call with reporters today, Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, the northern California Democrat who introduced AB 484, depicted this year as a dry run of sorts for local school districts administering the new tests. “It’s really a test of the test,” she said.

In fact, students won’t even be answering the same questions as other students sitting next to them. The point is more to gauge the effectiveness of the questions, rather than the aptitude of the students.

The bill moves to the Senate floor next week. It must be delivered to Governor Jerry Brown for his signature before next Friday, when the legislature goes on recess.

Previous posts: California Adopts New ‘Next Gen’ Science Standards; Testing Bill Taking Shape, Would Suspend API For Two Years; New USC Poll: Public Approval for Testing and Evaluations; California Could Face Year With No Meaningful Testing Data

But testing data from those field tests won’t be used for accountability purposes – they’ll simply be used as practice for students and school districts. That means that school districts would go through a year — this year — without testing data that is often used to judge how well schools and even teachers are doing — LA Unified’s new teacher evaluation system uses testing data, in part, to evaluate teachers. And schools would be without Academic Performance Index scores for the next two years.

“We’re essentially pressing reset on our current system,” says LAUSD lobbyist Edgar Zazueta. 

Only students in grades 3 through 8 and 11 would take the new Common Core tests – also known as the “Smarter Balanced test,” so named for the consortium developing assessments that align with Common Core. The tests are designed to deemphasize memorization while pressing students for a deeper understanding of the material. For some, that’s simply not enough testing.

“There will be only one assessment in high school,” says Arun Ramanathan, Executive Director of Education Trust West, bemoaning the lack of testing for 9th and 10th graders. “You’re going to wait until 11th grade until you know if your child isn’t doing well in English language arts or mathematics.”

Perhaps most controversially, there are currently no plans for standardized tests in a whole host of subjects, including history, biology, physics, algebra and geometry.

“Their intent has been to terminate all of the end-of-course exams, which to me is very bad public policy,” says education consultant John Mockler.

Zazueta says that could change in the future.

“The plan is to have new assessments in various subjects,” he said. “That’s at least the objective.”

The proposed law, Assembly Bill 484, introduced by Assembly member Susan Bonilla, a northern California Democrat, was largely the brainchild of State Superintendent Tom Torlakson, who said in a press release, “It’s time for a clean break from assessments that are out of date and out of sync with the work our schools are doing to shift to the Common Core and help students meet the challenges of a changing world.”

According to several sources, the newest version of the bill was crafted with input from Governor Jerry Brown, which indicates he’s likely to sign it. There may, however, be some amendments offered by the State Senate.

Under the original version of the bill, only 20 percent of California students would take the new Common Core tests. The newest version says that students in grades 3 through 8 and 11 in every school district will take either the English or the math section of the new tests.

An amendment may be coming out of the Senate that would allow some districts to field test both English and math. A number of district superintendents, including John Deasy of LA Unified, are said to be pushing hard for that change.

A recent poll by PACE/USC Rossier  found that nearly two-thirds of Californians feel that students should be tested in every single grade.

Previous posts: New USC Poll: Public Approval for Testing and Evaluations; California Could Face Year With No Meaningful Testing Data; LA Unified Getting $113 Million for Common Core Transition*; Slim Gains, Slight Drop in English for LA Unified in CA Test Scores

Duncan Says It’s Still Possible for State to Get NCLB Waiver
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See also: LA School Report

California Teachers Sue Unions to Stop Dues
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See also: HuffPo

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CA Bill Would Curtail Police Role on Public School Campuses
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Turning Teens Into Police Officers
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Walton Foundation Gives $8 Million to StudentsFirst
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New National Goals Set for Teaching Profession
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Attack Shows Education  Reform Gaining Ground
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See also: KPCC

Shepard Fairey Asks Students for Inspiration for Arts Education Campaign
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Charter School Teachers Join the Union
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Sal Khan: The Man Who Tutored His Cousin – and Started a Revolution
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State Probes Burbank Third Grade Cheating Report
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See also: LA Times

State Toughens Regs for Interns Teaching English Learners
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Help on the Road to Higher Education
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CTA Goes Hollywood on Teacher Dismissal Bills
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See also: SD Union-Tribune Editorial

What’s Really Scandalous About the School Testing Scandal
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More Teachers Group Students by Ability
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Migrant Program Offers  Lessons for Reaching Latino Preschoolers
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Brown’s K-12 Online Agenda Faces Legislative Scrutiny
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How to Build a Progressive Education Movement
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Public School Reformer Michelle Rhee Sends Child to Private School: Should We Care?
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Do Cops With Guns Mean Safer Schools?
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Report: Cheating on Standardized Tests in 75 Percent of U.S. States
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SBE Allows Higher Student/Teacher Ratio for Online Charter Schools
California’s State Board of Education approved waiver requests this month increasing the pupil-to-teacher ratio for independent study students at several online charter schools. SI&A Cabinet Report

Michelle Rhee, ‘a Public School Parent’?
In the course of reporting a story about Michelle Rhee, the controversial former District of Columbia chancellor seeking to take her brand of education reform to statehouses across the country, the Los Angeles Times asked her spokeswoman a simple question: Do Rhee’s children attend public or private school? LA Times

From the Lunch Line to the Stage: LA Cafeteria Worker Featured in New Play
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Inland Empire School District Repeats as Finalist for Academic Prize
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Intern Teachers: Special Ttraining Is Needed to Teach English Learners
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California Needs to Fill Teachers’ Pension Gap
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Head Start Programs Across the State Cut Services, Children
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The Wrong Fight Over Schools
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Bill Returns Looking to Push Back the Teacher “Pink Slip” Date
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Harbor City’s Narbonne High Overcomes Underdog Status to Excel in Academic Decathlon
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Commission Calls for ‘Radically Different’ Tests
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Head Start Cuts Could Mean 2,000 Fewer Seats in L.A. County
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LAUSD Cuts Ribbon on Linda Esperanza Marquez High School in Huntington Park
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Parent-Trigger Bills Progress in States’ Legislatures
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LAUSD Board Votes Down Proposed Staff Layoffs; Approves iPads
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See also: LA Daily News, CBS LA, LA School Report

With Few Details, Obama Calls for Vastly Expanded Preschool
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See also: KPCC, HuffPo

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An Opportunity to Talk About Testing
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When Helping Kids Threatens Teachers
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The test that’s got Seattle teachers so fired up is a computer-based standardized test called Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP. The teachers are boycotting the exam because they feel its measurements of student improvement are disconnected from state standards and classroom lessons, and that the test they consider unreliable is unfairly used to evaluate their job performances. They say they’re not opposed to other standardized tests — only this one.

The teachers’ fight against MAP echoes, at least in some ways, UTLA’s opposition to Academic Growth Over Time (AGT) student assessment program. Though Superintendent John Deasy lead the development of AGT with a plan to create a more comprehensive measure of student progress than a one-dimensional standardized test, the teachers union fought hard –and won– its battle to keep AGT scores out of individual teacher evaluations. Read more about the MAP testing boycott here.