BRUSH FIRES
Fires in the Gorge
Creu’s have the brush fires around
Interstate 84 that have consumed 7,000
acres of grass about 60/percent contained
PAGE 4
SPORTS
Offseason Report
Angelina Woken will be one of
three sophomores in the low post for the
women’s basketball team this war
rAUt a i
a TUESDAY.AUGUST 11. 1998
TODAY
I he World Masters
Games athletics
will continue at
Hayward Field
WEATHER
Today
Partly cloudy
1 ligh 85. Low 57.
Wednesday
Sunny
I ligh 93- Low 58.
ASUO Senate gets DDS rolling again—for now
The senate
exhausted all
of its $5,000 in
summer funds
at Monday
night’s meeting
By Leanne Nelms
Associate Editor
The ASUO Student Senate voted 6-0 Mon
day evening to approve a budget freeing the
remainder of the Designated Driver Shuttle
budget. Next stop: the Constitution Court.
In the weeks since the last senate meeting,
tensions between the ASUO Executive and
DDS appear to have escalated, but the sen
ate’s authority extended only to issues re
garding the group’s budget directly. After
twenty minutes of debate, including lengthy
statements by both DDS director Brandon
Smith and ASUO Vice President Morgan
Cowling, the senate restricted further debate
to senators only. “I think we should keep de
bate centered on the budget, not tire admin
istrative things swirling around this,” said
Sen. Selena Brewington during the meeting.
The senate’s decision transfers $23,788 to
DDS, bringing the group’s total budget to
$50,000—the amount of the ballot measure ap
proved by students during the spring elections.
Prior to the final vote, Smith had asked the
senate to postpone a decision on his group’s
budget. He said he was primarily concerned
about the basis of authority for the execu
tive’s intervention and the senate’s jurisdic
tion in matters pertaining to ballot measure
funds. Smith said planned to bring his con
cerns before the Constitution Court during
its next session on Aug. 20.
“I have a brief ready to go. Theoretically,
any decision made here could be overturned
by the Con Court,” Smith said during the
meeting.
The issues surrounding the situation are
complex, but much of the disagreement
stems from the insistence of the executive
that DDS adopt an itemized budget for its
ballot measure funding. Historically, this isa
departure from previous cases where voter
approved money was allocated as a lump
sum, said Smith.
Cowling said she feels she is acting in the
best interests of University students. "It’s our
job to make sure programs are accountable
and responsible,” she said. “We felt that
there needed to be process. Some decision
had to be made to get the program up and
running.”
Moving to an itemized budget also opens
details of planned spending to scrutiny by the
senate. One issue the senators were con
cerned about during debate was DDS' shift
Turn to SENATE, Page 3
student
Senate
Sprinkles on top
LAURA GOSS/Emerald
A sunflower at the University's urban farm soaks up sun and water in Monday's nice Heather.
New tests aim to
measure learning
more accurately
State officials plan to
give tests with varying
difficulty levels to
students in the same
grade level
The Associated Press
PORTLAND — Oregon soon
will become the first state to
give students in the same grade
different standardized tests to
help determine their achieve
ment level.
The different tests — easy,
average and hard — are being
praised by Oregon officials.
Even skeptics agree that, done
right, it could give a more accu
rate reading of students’ profi
ciency.
But others say parents
should be concerned.
The state tests have become a
centerpiece of efforts to raise
academic standards for all Ore
gon students. Benchmarks are
set for each grade level. Since
1991, each student has been
tested in grades three, five,
eight and 10.
Students who function far
above or below the average for
their grade will benefit the
most from the new approach,
proponents say. A one-test-fits
all model subjects such stu
dents to too many questions
that are beyond their skill level,
and may not even stretch far
enough from grade-level skills
to detect the student’s true
achievement level.
Without an accurate picture
of achievement, the proponents
say, it’s more difficult for teach
ers to tailor instruction to fit the
student’s needs.
The choice of tests will fol
low weighing a pupil’s previ
ous test scores. And teachers
can make recommendations
based on their knowledge of
how well the student performs
in class.
But some test experts caution
that there are pitfalls in using
differentiated tests to measure
students against a uniform
benchmark.
Tests questions must be de
veloped carefully to fairly grade
students on the same grading
scale, said Stanley Rabinowitz,
co-director of testing for West
Ed, a federally funded regional
laboratory specializing in test
ing and academic standards.
In addition, he cited a philo
sophical issue: Whether Ore
gon, having determined which
skills every student in a partic
ular grade should master, is
right to then give some students
tests that primarily measure
skills not at the benchmark lev
el.
But officials creating the tests
say they are confident the tests
will be fair to all 150,000 Ore
gon students assessed each year
and will give teachers more re
liable information about what
each student has mastered and
what each needs.
“I don't see any aspect of
these tests that is so unique that
we haven’t addressed the con
cerns many times over,” said
Ron Houser, Oregon’s associate
superintendent for assessment
and evaluation. “By more tight
ly focusing in the student’s
achievement range, you actual
ly vastly improve the reliability
of the measurement.”