Choice of Stanford Exam Frustrates, Delights Districts

A decision Friday mandating that all state students take the same traditional multiple-choice test pleased leaders at Ventura County’s two largest school districts, where the standardized exams already are in place.

But the vote upset educators at the county districts that had spent thousands of dollars for rival testing systems.

“We’re delighted,” said Supt. Jerry Gross of the Conejo Valley Unified School District, which chose to use the Stanford Achievement Test 9 last year. “This is wonderful.”

“In a way,” he added, “it takes the sting out of losing the Measure Q bond”--a $97-million measure to repair campuses in the 19,400-student district that was shot down by voters earlier this month.

But Oxnard Supt. Bernard Korenstein--whose 14,600 elementary school students served as a pilot test group for the rival Terra Nova test two years ago--sees it another way.

“This is somewhat frustrating,” Korenstein said, adding that there is nothing technically wrong with the Stanford test.

“I’m taken aback . . . that the board went a completely different way than the recommendation of the state superintendent,” he said. “For us personally, it means a whole new battery of tests.”

In a 9-2 decision, the state Board of Education decided to go with the newest version of the Stanford 9, known for its in-depth testing of basic skills, despite the fact that state Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin had pushed to use CTB’s Terra Nova test. Riverside Publishing’s Iowa Test of Basic Skills also was rejected.

In October, Gov. Pete Wilson signed a law mandating that California’s 4 million public school students in grades 2 through 11 must take standardized tests on educational fundamentals.

Eastin recommended the Terra Nova test, but the final decision was up to the state board, which voted--with no explanation--to award a five-year contract to the Texas-based Harcourt Brace publishing company. Harcourt Brace charges $2.89 per student for the tests, compared with $8 per student for the other two exams.

Testing will begin this spring.

What frustrates Oxnard’s Korenstein most is that the test his district is using now will be irrelevant when the new one is instituted, meaning the district has to “start all over again.”

On the flip side, that is exactly why leaders at Simi Valley Unified School District are sighing with relief.

Becky Wetzel, director of curriculum and instruction, said her staff can use last year’s Stanford 9 tests for “baseline data,” instead of starting from scratch and “comparing apples to oranges.”

Another plus, Wetzel said, is that she won’t have to retrain her teachers.

Simi Valley chose to switch from a version of the CTB test to the Stanford 9 last year because it “was more rigorous at the secondary level,” she said. “We took a gamble before the governor did his thing . . . and for us, this is good.”

For those who held off on buying a test this year until they heard from the state board, Friday’s decision also was a positive one.

“Oh, I’m so happy,” said Ojai Unified School District Supt. Gwen Gross. “We knew it was risky to wait . . . but we held off.”

She said officials of the 4,100-student district had put the Stanford 9 at the top of their wish list.

The Ventura Unified School District also had refrained from buying a test this fall.

“We rather expected Terra Nova, because that’s what most districts in the county use,” said Assistant Supt. Pat Chandler, whose district comprises 17,000 students. “But we waited to be in sync with the state.”

Districts that already had bought a test--the wrong one--are now paying the price.

“This was a huge investment we made two years ago,” said Oak Park Unified School District Supt. Marilyn Lippiatt about the Iowa test, purchased for the district’s 3,200 students.

She is also worried that the state will switch later, since the contract for the Stanford 9 runs out in five years.

“The decisions the state board are making are not fiscally prudent and educationally sound,” she said.

Oxnard Union High School District Supt. Bill Studt agreed.

Disappointed that his 14,000 students will have to switch over from the Terra Nova test, he said, “The state has to finally make up its mind and stick with it.”

* MAIN STORY: A25