Court upholds CBEST test for California teachers

The California Basic Educational Skills Test has been required by state law for teaching, counseling and administrative credentialing for public schools since 1983.

Organizations of Mexican-American, black and Asian educators argued there was no proven connection between CBEST and teaching skills, and that teachers should be judged on their classroom performance.

The test consists of multiple-choice questions in reading comprehension and mathematics and two essays to measure writing skills. It is given six times a year and can be repeated indefinitely.

In a 7-4 ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the CBEST was a valid measure of job-related skills despite a disproportionate number of minorities failing to pass it.

"The CBEST is intended to establish only a minimum level of competence in three areas of basic education skills," Judge Susan Graber wrote for the majority in an 80-page opinion.

Recent state figures showed that 100,000 people a year took the test, 70 percent passed on their first try and 82 to 85 percent passed eventually.

But there were significant differences among ethnic groups, particularly in first-time passage rates: 80 percent for whites, 60 percent for Asians, 47 percent for Hispanics and 37 percent for blacks.

The state says the test is set at an eighth to 10th grade level and screens out only the unqualified. For example, the math question missed by the most applicants in August 1995 asked how many students could be served a half-pint of milk from a five-gallon supply. (The answer is 80.)

Last year, a three-judge panel of the same circuit court upheld the test's usage. But a majority of the circuit's judges voted in March to rehear the case with 11 judges.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick of San Francisco upheld CBEST after a non-jury trial in 1996. He said the test had an adverse impact on minorities, but measured essential job skills better than other alternatives.

In a dissent, Judge Stephen Reinhardt said the majority's opinion is a blow to California's students.

"As a result of this ruling, qualified minority educators ... will be denied the opportunity to work in California's severely understaffed public schools, simply because they failed to pass a test that concededly has a disparate impact on minority group members," Reinhardt wrote.

He said one Cambodian-born applicant with a postgraduate teacher preparation certificate and a bachelor's degree cannot teach bilingual elementary classes to address the needs of 24,000 Khmer-speaking students. That person did not pass the CBEST reading section.

The case is Association of Mexican-American Educators vs. State of California, 96-17131.