Public Can View CLAS Exam Excerpts

Ventura County residents who have wondered about the fuss surrounding the state’s new student assessment tests will have an opportunity to see the exams for themselves later this month.

In an effort to defuse opposition to the California Learning Assessment System exams, the state Department of Education is making available for public review portions of the tests that were given this spring to fourth-, eighth- and 10th-grade students.

The exams’ reading and writing sections, which were the most controversial parts of the tests, will be on display at the Ventura County superintendent of schools office at Camarillo Airport and about 50 locations throughout the state for one month beginning July 18.

The literature excerpts contained in the exams are protected by copyright, so visitors will not be allowed to photocopy the entire tests, state education officials said. But they will be able to request photocopies of the test questions.

Because the state is allowing this public review, education officials will have to rewrite the entire language arts sections of the tests for the spring of 1995, Department of Education spokeswoman Susie Lange said.

But some county education officials said that allowing the public to see the tests will help build support for the controversial exams.

“Once people see the tests, they’re going to see they’re not as detrimental as they thought,” Rovina Salinas, a learning resource specialist who will monitor the CLAS exam display in Ventura County.

Unlike previous standardized assessment exams, CLAS aims to measure student performance mainly through open-ended, essay-type questions.

The exams have come under fire from conservative groups partly because they ask students to relate certain literary excerpts to their own experiences with questions that opponents have characterized as prying and overly personal.