Thread: School boycott causes makeups in CA standardized testing

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006...0_465_2_06.txt

Boycott causes few ripples for Oceanside's standardized testing

By: LOUISE ESOLA - Staff Writer

OCEANSIDE ---- Students in at least eight Oceanside Unified elementary schools began a series of standardized tests Monday, the same day that more than 13 percent of the district's 20,300 students were absent, mostly to take part in the nationwide boycott.

Oceanside district officials said the higher-than-normal absenteeism did not pose a major problem for schools, and that students who missed Monday's tests can make them up in the next two weeks. Superintendent Ken Noonan had warned last week that students who took part in the boycott with an unexcused absence would not be allowed to make up missed schoolwork.

District spokeswoman Laura Chalkley said that the district did not intend to keep students from taking state and federally mandated standardized tests, and that the warning was meant for students who had other assignments and quizzes scheduled that day. Noonan could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.


Activists called Monday's demonstration "A Day Without Immigrants" and "The Great American Boycott."

Hundreds of thousands of people in cities nationwide held protests to oppose a proposed federal law that would make it a felony to be in the United States illegally. Business owners closed shops to show support for more rights for immigrants. People rallied on the streets, coast to coast. And schools saw record absences; in Oceanside, 5 percent of the students are absent on any given day.

The boycott fell on a day that many schools in California are required to test at least 95 percent of their students in grades 2 through 11.

State law requires school districts to conduct standardized testing every spring during a 20-day window that is at least 85 percent into the school year. For Oceanside Unified, schools are allowed to schedule testing anytime between April 24 and May 19.

Nine schools had originally scheduled testing for Monday, but Jefferson Middle changed its schedule last week because of the threat of the boycott, according to Principal Duane Coleman.

"We didn't know what the impact would be, so we just decided to pass on Monday," he said, adding that those tests will be handed out today.

It was unclear whether any other of the district's 26 schools were scheduled to conduct testing on Monday, but changed their schedule. Officials at several schools said students are not tested on Mondays.

Chalkley said that although more than 2,600 students were absent on Monday, the other schools will have plenty of time to provide makeup tests. Schools typically schedule testing for at least an hour a day for different grade levels, meaning only a "handful" of students may have missed Monday's testing.

For example, Ivey Ranch Elementary on Monday gave part one of the English tests to third graders ---- one hour's worth of testing, Chalkley said. The district's enrollment report for Monday shows that 34 Ivey Ranch students missed school. On April 24, one week earlier, 35 Ivey Ranch students were absent.

More than half of the district's absences were at these secondary schools. Oceanside High had the most with 514 students. In comparison, on April 24, 175 students were absent.

El Camino had 130 students absent Monday, compared to 111 students on April 24. The district's three middle schools had a total of 782 students absent Monday, more than three times the number of middle schoolers absent a week earlier.

Contact staff writer Louise Esola at (760) 901-4151 or lesola@nctimes.com.

Those test are nothing to play with but being they aren't
prepared anyway doesn't make much difference. Their
scores will remain the same whether they're at school
or home.

Just more money that illegals cost us by having to administer the tests twice due to their unexcused absence from school that day. And you are right they do not want to be educated that is why their country is in the state it is. Total waste of money if you ask me paying for education for people who do not want to learn. Their own ignorance will be their downfall.