Full opinion text
OPINION AND ORDER ORRICK, District Judge. To have the privilege of teaching in a public school in California, a person must pass a test in reading, writing, and mathematics known as the California Basic Educational Skills Test (“CBEST”), given by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (“CTC”). The CBEST was mandated by the California legislature in response to a public outeiy about the perceived incompetence of many public school teachers. Plaintiffs, representing a class of minority would-be teachers consisting of African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians, bring this action against the State of California (“State”) and the CTC under Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, claiming that they are discriminated against by the insistence of defendants that they take and pass the CBEST before becoming public schoolteachers. For the reasons set forth in this Opinion, which constitutes the Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law as required by Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court rules in favor of defendants. I. Plaintiffs are the Association of Mexican-American Educators (“AMAE”), the California Association for Asian-Pacific Bilingual Education, the Oakland Alliance of Black Educators, and eight individuals. In this class action, they challenge the use of the CBEST as a requirement for certification to teach in the California public schools. Plaintiffs contend that the CBEST requirement violates Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because it has a disparate impact on African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians. Defendants, while conceding that the CBEST results in some adverse impact on the plaintiff class, argue that the test is valid because it tests job-related skills and is justified by business necessity. This case began thirteen years ago, shortly after the CBEST was first administered in December 1982. Effective February 1,1983, the State legislature barred the CTC from issuing “any credential, permit, certificate, or renewal of an emergency credential to any person to serve in the public schools unless the person has demonstrated proficiency in basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills.” Cal. Educ.Code § 44252(b). The legislature authorized the Superintendent of Public Instruction (“Superintendent”) to “adopt an appropriate state test to measure proficiency in these basic skills.” Id. § 44252(c). The CBEST was the result. The CBEST is a pass-fail examination. It contains three sections — reading, writing, and mathematics. The reading and mathematics sections each contain 40 multiple-choice questions. The writing portion consists of two essay questions. The CBEST has undergone one major revision: The “higher order” math skills, such as geometry, were removed from the mathematics subtest prior to the first administration of the revised CBEST in August 1995. A passing score on the CBEST is required for elementary school teachers, who hold multiple-subject credentials, and for secondary school teachers, who hold single-subject credentials in the areas of agriculture, art, business, English, foreign languages, health science, home economics, industrial and technology education, mathematics, music, physical education, science, and social science. See Cal.Educ.Code §§ 44256, 44257, 44259. The CBEST is also required for numerous nonteaching positions, including administrators, id. § 44270, school counselors or “pupil personnel services” positions, id. § 44266, librarians, id. § 44269, and school nurses, id. § 44267.5. The CBEST is administered six times a year, and there is no limit on the number of times a candidate may sit for the examination. Furthermore, a candidate keeps his or her best score on any given section and need only retake the failed sections; once the candidate has accumulated a passing score on all three sections, the candidate has passed the CBEST. See id. § 44252.5(d). In this case, the plaintiff class was certified by the Court as follows: All Latinos, African Americans and Asians who have sought or are seeking California public school credentials and certificated positions who have been, are being, or will be adversely affected in their ability to obtain credentials and certificated positions by California Basic Educational Skills Test results. (See Mem. Decision & Order filed July 19, 1994, at 22, as amended by Order filed Oct. 7, 1994.) The eight individual plaintiffs in this lawsuit are all members of minority groups, seeking teaching or administrative credentials, who contend they were discriminated against as a result of the CBEST requirement. Each individual plaintiff has taken and failed the CBEST one or more times. Three of the plaintiffs eventually passed the CBEST. Plaintiff Sara MacNeil Boyd (“Boyd”), an African-American woman, took and failed the CBEST four times. Boyd received her bachelor’s degree in commerce from North Carolina Central University in 1955. She has credentials for secondary education and counseling/pupil personnel services. She completed both a master’s degree in education and an administrative credentialing program at San Jose State University, but was unable to get an administrative credential because she could not pass the CBEST. By obtaining annual CBEST waivers from the CTC, however, Boyd was able to serve as a vice-principal from 1988 until her retirement in 1995. Plaintiff Sam Genis (“Genis”), a Latino man, took and failed the CBEST four times. Genis earned his associate’s degree from East Los Angeles College in 1976. He then obtained a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from California State University, Los Angeles in 1979. From 1980 to 1983, he taught at Rio Vista Elementary School in the El Rancho Unified School District, but was unable to continue there because he had not passed the CBEST. He has since worked in private schools. Plaintiff Agnes Haynes (“Haynes”), an African-American woman, took and faded the CBEST six times between 1991 and 1998, but subsequently passed. Haynes received a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Grambling College in Louisiana in 1964. She completed a master’s degree in educational administration and an administrative credentialing program at San Francisco State University in 1995. By obtaining CBEST waivers, Haynes worked as an eighth-grade English and social studies teacher for two years in the Ravenswood City School District. She subsequently lost her teaching position because she had not passed the CBEST. She has since passed the test. Plaintiff Diana Kwan (“Kwan”), an Asian woman, took and failed the CBEST four times. Kwan obtained an associate’s degree from the City College of San Francisco in 1988 and a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies from San Francisco State University in 1991. She has not entered a teacher preparation program because the program of her choice requires passage of the CBEST for admittance. Kwan currently works as a flight attendant for United Air Lines. Plaintiff Marta Leclaire (“Leclaire”), who is Latina, took and failed the CBEST four times. Leclaire received an associate’s degree from City College of San Francisco in 1972. She earned her bachelor’s degree at San Francisco State University in developmental psychology in 1976. She completed a teacher credentialing program in multiple subjeets/elementary education at San Francisco State University in 1978, but could not obtain a multiple-subject credential because she has not passed the CBEST. Leclaire does possess a general school services credential, which allows her to teach in child centers. Plaintiff Antoinette Williams, an African-American woman, took the CBEST once in 1992 and failed it. She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Fontbonne College in Missouri in 1979. She seeks a substitute teaching credential but has not been able to obtain one because she has not passed the CBEST. Plaintiff Robert Williams (“Williams”), an African-American man, took the CBEST ten times and passed all three sections by August 1994. Williams obtained a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Linfield College in Oregon in 1974. In 1975, he earned a master’s degree in physical education from Stanford University and obtained a credential to teach physical education. Williams later completed an administrative credentialing program at California State University, Hayward, but was unable to obtain an administrative credential from the CTC until he passed the CBEST in 1994. Williams has worked in the San Leandro Unified School District since 1986, first as a physical education teacher, later as an assistant principal for two years, and most recently as a teacher on special assignment in human relations for the district. Plaintiff Toua Yang (“Wang”), an Asian male, took and failed the CBEST seventeen times between 1991 and 1995. He has since passed the test. Yang received an associate’s degree from Merced College in 1989. He earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies from California State University, Sacramento in 1992. He also completed a teacher credentialing program at California State University, Sacramento, but was not credentialed because he did not pass the CBEST test (until 1995). Yang has served as a substitute teacher in the Sacramento City Unified School District since 1994. The Court conducted the trial in two phases. The first phase consisted of the testimony of fact witnesses and took place over five days in February and March 1996. The second phase, during which expert testimony was presented, took place from June 3 to June 19,1996. II. A. 1. “The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life.” Plato, The Republic bk. IV, 425-B. Teachers occupy a special position of trust in our society. They are entrusted with the education of our children, the importance of which one would be hard-pressed to exaggerate. A child’s education is crucial not only to that child’s individual prospects; in the aggregate, the education of all children has a profound effect on the future of the state, and indeed the country, in which we live. “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence ends.” Henry Brooks Adams, The Education of Henry Adams (1907). As has often been observed, a teacher’s job involves far more than simply instruction by rote. Teachers have the power to inspire in their students a love of learning and of knowledge, even a will to achieve and to fulfill their potential. “In shaping the students’ experience to achieve educational goals, teachers by necessity have wide discretion over the way course material is communicated to students. They are responsible for presenting and explaining the subject matter in a way that is both comprehensible and inspiring.” Ambach v. Norwick, 441 U.S. 68, 78, 99 S.Ct. 1589, 1595, 60 L.Ed.2d 49 (1979). At the same time, however, the importance of the basic skills cannot be ignored. Teachers are also role models. Students learn not only what they are taught directly, but also what they observe. “Part of a teacher’s responsibility is to set an example for his students and to act as a role model, a responsibility made necessary by the fact that students spend more time with their teachers than with any persons other than immediate family members and closest friends.” Hoagland v. Mount Vernon Sch. Dist. No. 320, 23 Wash.App. 650, 597 P.2d 1376, 1382 (1979) (Dore, J., dissenting), aff'd, 95 Wash.2d 424, 623 P.2d 1156 (1981). Schoolteachers who use improper grammar or spelling, or who make mistakes in simple calculations, model that behavior to their students — much to the detriment of their education. The same can be said for school principals, librarians, and guidance counselors. Given the significance of the teacher’s role, the State has an obligation to the public “to maintain the highest standards of fitness and competence for the weighty task of educating young impressionable students.” Id. As the Supreme Court has observed: Our society grows increasingly complex, and our need for trained leaders increases correspondingly. Appellant’s case represents, perhaps, the epitome of that need, for he is attempting to obtain an advanced degree in education, to become, by definition, a leader and trainer of others. Those who will come under his guidance and influence must be directly affected by the education he receives. Their own education and development will necessarily suffer to the extent that his own training is [inadequate]. McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Educ., 339 U.S. 637, 641, 70 S.Ct. 851, 853, 94 L.Ed. 1149 (1950). What was true nearly fifty years ago remains true today, and has perhaps become even more urgent. Our economy has largely evolved from one driven by manual labor to one driven by mental labor, and literacy — of all kinds — has grown increasingly critical. 2. “[I]f you improve a teacher, you improve a school.” Willie v. Commissioner, 57 T.C. 383, 389, 1971 WL 2630 (1971). Against this backdrop, the Court must consider the CBEST. The Court is called upon to decide whether teachers in California’s public schools — all of whom have college degrees — should be required to pass a test of preeollege level skills before they are allowed to teach. Though the precise grade-level of the items on the CBEST is subject to some debate, it is nonetheless clear that it tests at most secondary-level, preeollege skills. For example, the most difficult mathematics question on the August 1995 CBEST— judged the most difficult because the most examinees answered it incorrectly — was as follows: How many students at a school can be served a half-pint of milk from 5 gallons of milk? A. 80 B. 60 C. 40 D. 20 E. 10 The CBEST is self-evidently a test of basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. As will be discussed in detail in this Opinion, the Court finds that plaintiffs have met their burden of proving that the CBEST has an adverse impact on the plaintiff class. Defendants, however, have successfully rebutted plaintiffs’ case by showing that the CBEST is a valid, job-related test for the teaching and nonteaching positions in the public schools for which it is a requirement. In response, plaintiffs have failed to show the existence of an alternative selection device that would adequately replace the CBEST. The CBEST is not a cure-all for the ills of California’s public schools, but it is not meant to be. It is simply a threshold measure. The State is entitled to ensure that teachers and others who work in the public schools possess a minimal level of competency in basic reading, writing, and math skills before they are entrusted with the education of our children. B. Plaintiffs contend that the CBEST has an adverse impact on the minority groups represented in the plaintiff class: African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians. According to plaintiffs, the CBEST is not a valid, job-related measure of all the teaching and non-teaching jobs for which it is required. “In enacting Title VII, Congress required ‘the removal of artificial, arbitrary, and unnecessary barriers to employment when the barriers operate invidiously to discriminate on the basis of racial or other impermissible classification.’ ” Dothard v. Rawlinson, 433 U.S. 321, 328, 97 S.Ct. 2720, 2726, 53 L.Ed.2d 786 (1977) (quoting Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 431, 91 S.Ct. 849, 853, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971)). Title YII “proscribes not only overt discrimination but also practices that are fair in form, but discriminatory in operation.” Griggs, 401 U.S. at 431, 91 S.Ct. at 853. Thus, in a disparate impact case such as this one, plaintiffs need not show that defendants intended to discriminate against them; they need only prove that a facially neutral employment practice, viz., the CBEST, has had a significant adverse impact on groups protected by Title VII. Watson v. Fort Worth Bank & Trust, 487 U.S. 977, 986-87, 108 S.Ct. 2777, 2784-85, 101 L.Ed.2d 827 (1988). Nevertheless, “[n]othing in' [Title VII] precludes the use of testing or measuring procedures; obviously they are useful.” Griggs, 401 U.S. at 436, 91 S.Ct. at 856. As a threshold matter, the Court must consider the appropriate standard for the parties’ respective burdens of proof. Over the years, the burdens of proof applicable to Title VII disparate impact cases have changed. Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio, 490 U.S. 642, 109 S.Ct. 2115, 104 L.Ed.2d 733 (1989), the allocation of proof in a disparate impact case such as this was described by the Ninth Circuit as follows. First, the plaintiff “must establish that a facially neutral employment practice produces a significant adverse impact on a protected class.” Clady v. County of Los Angeles, 770 F.2d 1421, 1427 (9th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1109, 106 S.Ct. 1516, 89 L.Ed.2d 915 (1986). If the plaintiff meets that burden, then “the burden shifts to the employer to validate the selection device, that is, to show that it has ‘a manifest relationship to the employment in question.’ ” Id. at 1427 (quoting Griggs, 401 U.S. at 432, 91 S.Ct. at 854). If the employer fails to meet its burden, then the employer’s “use of the selection device will be deemed a Title VII violation.” Id. at 1428. If the employer succeeds in validating the selection device, however, the plaintiff may nonetheless “rebut the defendant’s evidence by showing that although job-related, the test does not constitute a business necessity because an alternative selection device exists which would have comparable business utility and less adverse impact.” Id. In Wards Cove, the Supreme Court repudiated the widespread assumption that the burden of proof shifts entirely to the defendant during the second phase of a disparate impact case. Instead, the Court held that “the employer carries the burden of producing evidence of a business justification for his employment practice. The burden of persuasion, however, remains with the disparate-impact plaintiff.” 490 U.S. at 659, 109 S.Ct. at 2126. In addition, the Court appeared to reduce the defendant’s burden by requiring only a showing of “business justification,” viz., that “a challenged practice serves, in a significant way, the legitimate employment goals of the employer,” id. at 658-59, 109 S.Ct. at 2125-26 (emphasis added), rather than a showing of “business necessity” as required under Griggs. 401 U.S. at 431, 91 S.Ct. at 853 (emphasis added). The Court emphasized that “there is no requirement that the challenged practice be ‘essential’ or ‘indispensable’ to the employer’s business for it to pass muster.” Wards Cove, 490 U.S. at 659, 109 S.Ct. at 2126. Though the Supreme Court characterized its decision as a mere clarification of existing law, see id. at 659-60, 109 S.Ct. at 2126, it came as a surprise to the lower federal courts and was widely viewed as increasing the plaintiffs burden in disparate impact cases. See, e.g., Graffam v. Scott Paper Co., 870 F.Supp. 389, 392 & n. 4 (D.Me.1994), aff'd, 60 F.3d 809 (1st Cir.1995); Stender v. Lucky Stores, Inc., 803 F.Supp. 259, 321 & n. 20 (N.D.Cal.1992); see also Wards Cove, 490 U.S. at 661, 109 S.Ct. at 2127 (Blackmun, J., dissenting); id. at 668-72, 109 S.Ct. at 2130-33 (Stevens, J., dissenting). Partly in response to the Wards Cove decision, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (“1991 CRA”), which became effective on November 21, 1991. The 1991 CRA restored the proof allocation generally applied in disparate impact cases prior to Wards Cove. The statute describes the burdens of proof as follows: An unlawful employment practice based on disparate impact is established ... only if— (i) a complaining party demonstrates that a respondent uses a particular employment practice that causes a disparate impact on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and the respondent fails to demonstrate that the challenged practice is job related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity; or (ii) the complaining party [makes a showing of] an alternative employment practice and the respondent refuses to adopt such alternative employment practice. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(k)(l)(A) (1994). In this case, defendants’ conduct, which began in late 1982 and continues into the present, spans all three eras: (1) pre-Wards Cove from 1982 to 1989, (2) Wards Cove, from June 5, 1989, to November 21, 1991, and (3) the 1991 CRA, from November 21, 1991, to the present. The case, however, was filed on September 23, 1992, well after the 1991 CRA’s effective date. Thus, the Court must determine whether to apply the burdens of proof established by the 1991 CRA to this case. Although the Supreme Court considered the issue of the 1991 CRA’s retroactivity in Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U.S. 244, 114 S.Ct. 1483, 128 L.Ed.2d 229 (1994), that case is distinguishable. The only provision at issue in Landgraf was § 102, which provides a right to recover compensatory and punitive damages and a right to jury trial. The Court held that those sections did not apply to a case that was on appeal when the 1991 CRA became effective. Landgraf thus did not reach the issue of whether the burden of proof provisions of the 1991 CRA apply retroactively. The federal courts have divided on the issue. A few courts have refused to apply the 1991 CRA, reasoning that the burden of proof provisions “affect the liability of defendants” and therefore “cannot be retroactively applied in cases ... where alleged discriminatory conduct occurred prior to” the 1991 CRA’s effective date. Matthews v. Runyon, 860 F.Supp. 1347, 1355 (E.D.Wis.1994); see also Houghton v. SIPCO, Inc., 38 F.3d 953, 959 (8th Cir.1994) (holding that burden of proof under Wards Cove, not 1991 CRA, applies to case filed before effective date of 1991 CRA). One court even interpreted Landgraf to stand for the blanket proposition that no provision of the 1991 CRA applies retroactively. Jones v. Pepsi-Cola Metropolitan Bottling Co., 871 F.Supp. 305, 309 n. 11 (E.D.Mich.1994). Such a reading cannot be reconciled with the language of Landgraf itself, however, in which the Supreme Court explained: [T]here is no special reason to think that all the diverse provisions of the Act must be treated uniformly for [retroactivity] purposes. To the contrary, we understand the instruction that the provisions are to “take effect upon enactment” to mean that courts should evaluate each provision of the Act in light of ordinary judicial principles concerning the application of new rules to pending cases and pre-enactment conduct. 511 U.S. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1505; see also id. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1494-95. Other courts, including this Court, have concluded that the burden of proof provision does apply to cases that were pending at the time of or filed after the effective date of the 1991 CRA. See Graffam, 870 F.Supp. at 393-94; Housey v. Carini Lincoln-Mercury, 817 F.Supp. 762, 766-68 (E.D.Wis.1993); Stender, 803 F.Supp. at 321-22. The Court finds that the allocation of proof provision of the 1991 CRA applies to this case because the provision effected a procedural change, rather than a change in substantive rights. As the Court explained in Landgraf: Changes in procedural rules may often be applied in suits arising before their enactment without raising concerns about retroactivity_ Because rules of procedure regulate secondary rather than primary conduct, the fact that a new procedural rule was instituted after the conduct giving rise to the suit does not make application of the rule at trial retroactive. 511 U.S. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1502. The central policy underlying the presumption against statutory retroactivity — “the unfairness of imposing new burdens on persons after the fact” — is absent here. Id. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1500. This is not a case in which there exist “concerns of unfair surprise and upsetting expectations,” id. at - n. 35, 114 S.Ct. at 1506 n. 35, or where “predictability and stability are of prime importance.” Id. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1500. The applicable burden of proof does not affect parties’ conduct prior to litigation. To the contrary, a burden of proof is implicated only at trial, long after the conduct has taken place. Nor does the burden of proof affect defendants’ liability in a substantive way: “It does not make unlawful conduct that was lawful when it occurred,” id. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1506, and it does not “impair rights a party possessed when he acted, increase a party’s liability for past conduct, or impose new duties with respect to transactions already completed.” Id. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1505. Therefore, the Court will follow the general rule that “a court is to apply the law in effect at the time it renders its decision.” Id. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1496 (quoting Bradley v. Richmond Sch. Bd., 416 U.S. 696, 711, 94 S.Ct. 2006, 2016, 40 L.Ed.2d 476 (1974)). In any event, it makes no difference which standard of proof the Court employs in this case. The Court’s determination that the 1991 CRA burdens of proof apply has no effect on the outcome of the suit. Even under the heavier burden of proof imposed by the 1991 CRA, defendants prevail. See Fitzpatrick v. City of Atlanta, 2 F.3d 1112, 1117-18 (11th Cir.1993). C. Plaintiffs bear the burden of proving that the CBEST produces “a significant adverse impact” on the plaintiff class. Clady, 770 F.2d at 1427 (citing Teal, 457 U.S. at 446, 102 S.Ct. at 2530). Plaintiffs can meet this burden through reliable statistics. Id. The Court finds that plaintiffs have met their burden of showing adverse impact. Both parties in this case have used the so-called “80-pereent rule” prescribed by the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, 29 C.F.R. pt. 1607 (1978) (“Uniform Guidelines”), which were promulgated jointly by the EEOC, the Civil Service Commission, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Justice. 29 C.F.R. § 1607.1(A). The Uniform Guidelines are not binding on the Court, but they do have some persuasive force. Bouman v. Block, 940 F.2d 1211, 1225 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1005, 112 S.Ct. 640, 116 L.Ed.2d 658 (1991). Under the Uniform Guidelines, “[a] selection rate for any race, sex, or ethnic group which is less than four-fifths (%) (or eighty percent) of the rate for the group with the highest rate” is considered a showing of adverse impact. 29 C.F.R. § 1607.4(D). Thus, under the 80-percent rule, plaintiffs must show a selection rate (or pass rate) for each of the groups represented by the plaintiff class that is less than 80 percent of the selection rate for non-Latino Caucasians (“whites”), who (as a group) have the highest pass rates on the CBEST. For example, suppose that ethnic group A, the highest-scoring group on a test, has a pass rate of 50 percent. Applying the 80-percent rule, 80 percent of 50 percent (group A’s selection rate) equals 40 percent. Thus, ethnic group B can show adverse impact if less than 40 percent of the group passes the test. The undisputed evidence presented at trial by both parties showed that, under the 80-pereent rule, an adverse impact exists with respect to first-time CBEST-takers who are grouped according to the class definition: Latinos, African-Americans, and Asians. Therefore, plaintiffs have made their prima facie case. Defendants do not quarrel with the statistics; nevertheless, they argue that the CBEST does not have an adverse impact on all members of the plaintiff class. Defendants contend that a few subgroups, particularly English-fluent Asians, perform as well or better than whites on certain parts of the CBEST. Defendants also contend that cumulative, as opposed to first-time, pass rates should be used, and that these rates show no adverse impact for any group in the plaintiff class. Plaintiffs object to defendants’ approach to assessing adverse impact. They argue that all Asians are properly treated as a single group, whether they are fluent in the English language or not, and whether they are, for instance, Chinese, Filipino, Hmong, or Pacific Islander. According to plaintiffs, the appropriate analysis considers first-time pass rates of the CBEST as a whole by each of the three groups defined in the plaintiff class (African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians) as compared to whites. The Court agrees. Defendants have cited no authority for the proposition that the plaintiff class should be subdivided differently from the way in which the groups are defined by the Court’s order certifying the class, viz., African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians. What little guidance the Court could discover in this area supports grouping class members by race or ethnicity rather than by other characteristics (e.g., English fluency). For example, the Uniform Guidelines provide that employers should keep records on “the following races and ethnic groups: Blacks (Negroes), ... Asians (including Pacific Islanders), Hispanic (including persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish origin or culture regardless of race), [and] whites (Caucasians) other than Hispanic.” 29 C.F.R. § 1607.4(B). The definition of the plaintiff class conforms to this standard. Moreover, even if the Court were to adopt defendants’ proposed subgroups, the Court would still find that the CBEST has an adverse impact on the entire plaintiff class. As discussed below, adverse impact is appropriately measured by the first time a candidate sits for the CBEST and fails it. Using that standard, defendants’ proposed subgroups show an adverse impact under the 80-per-cent rule. Defendants also argue that adverse impact is properly determined with respect to the pass rate of each subpart of the test, rather than pass rate on the CBEST as a whole. For this contention, defendants cite Connecticut v. Teal, 457 U.S. 440, 102 S.Ct. 2525, 73 L.Ed.2d 130 (1982). Teal does not support defendants’ argument. In Teal, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendant’s written examination, which employees were required to pass in order to become permanent supervisors, had a disparate impact on African-Americans. In taking the next step and determining which of the employees who had passed the test should in fact be promoted, however, the defendant— on the eve of trial — adopted a kind of affirmative-action program and promoted a greater percentage of Blacks than whites. At trial, the defendant argued that “this ‘bottom-line’ result, more favorable to blacks than to whites, ... should be adjudged to be a complete defense” to the plaintiffs’ disparate impact claim. 457 U.S. at 444, 102 S.Ct. at 2529. The Supreme Court rejected the so-called “bottom-line” defense. In doing so, the Court emphasized that “Title VII prohibits ‘procedures or testing mechanisms that operate as “built-in headwinds” for minority groups,’ ” and that “Congress’ primary purpose was the prophylactic one of achieving equality of employment ‘opportunities’ and removing ‘barriers’ to such equality.” Id. at 448-49, 102 S.Ct. at 2531. Under this standard, the Court concluded that “[t]he examination given to [the plaintiffs] in this case surely constituted such a practice and created such a barrier.” Id. at 449, 102 S.Ct. at 2531. As such, it was actionable under Title VII. Reviewing its precedents, the Supreme Court noted that it had “consistently focused on employment and promotion requirements that create a discriminatory bar to opportunities. This Court has never read [Title VII] as requiring the focus to be placed instead on the overall number of minority ... applicants actually hired or promoted.” Id. at 450, 102 S.Ct. at 2532. “The suggestion that disparate impact should be measured only at the bottom line ignores the fact that Title VII guarantees these individual [plaintiffs] the opportunity to compete equally with white workers on the basis of job-related criteria.” Id. at 451, 102 S.Ct. at 2532-33. The Supreme Court in Teal thus held that a defendant employer cannot excuse the use of a nonjob-related barrier by showing that the promotional process as a whole resulted in a proportionally greater number of minority promotions than white promotions. Though Teal does not speak directly to the issue of whether each subpart of a test should be considered separately in analyzing disparate impact, Justice Brennan’s opinion implied that a test should be viewed as a whole: “[The plaintiffs’] claim of disparate impact from the examination, a pass-fail barrier to employment opportunity, states a pilma facie case of employment discrimina-tion_” Id. at 452, 102 S.Ct. at 2533 (emphasis added). Here, as in Teal, the barrier imposed by defendants is the requirement that plaintiffs take and pass all three sections of a pass-fail examination. One must pass the whole CBEST in order to be eligible for employment or promotion. Thus, the selection occurs when a candidate passes or fails the CBEST as a whole. Id. How different groups perform on each subpart of the examination is therefore not directly relevant to the issue of adverse impact. The legislative history of the 1991 CRA also supports this finding: When a decision-making process includes particular, functionally-integrated practices which are components of the same criterion, standard, method of administration, or test, ... the particular, functionally-integrated practices may be analyzed as one employment practice. 137 Cong.Rec. S15276 (daily ed. Oct. 25, 1991) (interpretive memorandum), reprinted in 1991 U.S.C.C.A.N. 549, 767. It is true, as defendants argue, that a candidate retains her highest score on each subpart every time she sits for the CBEST, and that the candidate may retake the test an unlimited number of times, as often as six times a year. Nonetheless, a candidate cannot obtain a job unless and until she has passed the CBEST — and she does not pass the CBEST unless and until she passes not just one or two subtests, but all three sections. Each time that a candidate fails to pass the examination as a whole, that candidate is deprived of an employment or advancement opportunity. Kirkland v. New York State Dep’t of Correctional Servs., 520 F.2d 420, 425 (2d Cir.1975), reh’g denied, 531 F.2d 5 (2d Cir.1975), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 823, 97 S.Ct. 73, 50 L.Ed.2d 84 (1976); Richardson v. Lamar County Bd. of Educ., 729 F.Supp. 806, 815 (M.D.Ala.1989), aff'd, 935 F.2d 1240 (11th Cir.1991); see also Teal, 457 U.S. at 452, 102 S.Ct. at 2533; Bouman, 940 F.2d at 1225 (analyzing pass rates on three-part written examination as a whole); Clady, 770 F.2d at 1429 (analyzing pass rates on written examination as a whole as “a discrete selection device”). Finally, defendants contend that adverse impact should be assessed in light of cumulative, rather than first-time, pass rates. As the Court has just explained, however, the harm to a candidate occurs, if at all, each and every time the candidate sits for the CBEST and fails it. Each time the candidate does not pass, she is barred from an opportunity to become a teacher or to advance, for instance, to an administrative position. As this Court has noted once before, passing the CBEST “is the sine qua non of employment in California’s public schools.” Association of Mexican-American Educators v. California, 836 F.Supp. at 1551 (hereinafter “AMAE ”). Therefore, it is basically irrelevant to the issue of adverse impact that some, most, or nearly all of those who take the CBEST eventually pass. The loss of an employment opportunity occurs each and every time a candidate fails the test. See Teal, 457 U.S. at 452, 102 S.Ct. at 2533. The Court turns now to the evidence. Plaintiffs’ expert, Dr. John Poggio, concluded that the first-time pass rates were as follows: Asians 53.0% African-Americans 37.7 Latinos 49.4 Whites 73.4 (Poggio Direct Test, at 12.) Under his analysis, it is clear that all of the groups represented by the plaintiff class have a pass rate that is less than 80 percent of the white pass rate. The analysis performed by defendants’ expert, Dr. Joan Haworth, supports this finding. Her results with respect to first-time CBEST takers in the plaintiff class were as follows: Asian 59.9% Black 37.4 Hispanic/Latino 47.0 Filipino 42.7 Puerto Rican 45.8 Pacific Islander 49.9 White 80.0 (See Ex. 1387, tbl. 2A, col. 5, Haworth Rep.) The only two categories in Dr. Haworth’s analysis of the pass rates of first-time examinees to show no adverse impact under the 80-percent rule were “American Indian” (67.1 percent) and “Other” (65.6 percent), neither of which is a group included in the plaintiff class. (See id.) As discussed above, the categories used by Dr. Haworth should have been aggregated into the three categories represented by the plaintiff class. Thus, the “Asian” category should include both Filipinos and Pacific Islanders, and the “Hispanic/Latino” category should include Puerto Ricans. The Court also notes that Dr. Haworth found no difference in the extent of adverse impact between the former version of the CBEST and the revised CBEST administered in August and October 1995. Dr. Haworth conducted a multiple regression analysis in order to suggest some possible explanations for the comparatively poor performance of minority groups on the CBEST, such as lack of English fluency and lower level of education. The Court finds this analysis interesting, and ultimately encouraging, because it appears to show that preparation factors play a strong role in a candidate’s performance on the CBEST, regardless of the candidate’s race or ethnicity. Nevertheless, this analysis is entirely irrelevant to the issue of adverse impact. It does not matter why the disparate impact exists. Defendants cannot escape liability by showing that the disparate impact is attributable to particular background factors. The Ninth Circuit has rejected “the proposition that a defendant need not validate an examination if the disparate impact of that examination correlates with some facially non-diseriminatory factor or factors.” Bouman, 940 F.2d at 1228. As the Court of Appeals explained: [T]he whole point of a disparate impact challenge is that a facially non-discriminatory employment or promotion device — in this ease an examination — has a discriminatory effect. It would be odd indeed if a defendant whose facially non-discriminatory examination which has a disparate impact could escape the obligation to validate the examination merely by pointing to some other facially non-diseriminatory factor that correlates with the disparate impact. [The defendant’s] failure to validate cannot be excused simply by the correlation between success on the examination and experience. Id. (citation omitted). This reasoning has been clear since Griggs. There, the Supreme Court observed that the plaintiffs, African-Americans, were less likely to meet the requirements of a high school diploma and a passing score on a general aptitude test because they had received “inferior education in segregated schools” and had lower high school graduation rates than whites. Griggs, 401 U.S. at 430 & n. 6, 91 S.Ct. at 853 & n. 6. Merely explaining the impediments to plaintiffs’ ability to meet the job requirements did not, however, excuse the defendant from the burden of showing that the requirements were job-related. Indeed, the Court held that both requirements were invalid. D. The burden now shifts to defendants to validate the CBEST — in other words, “to show that it has ‘a manifest relationship to the employment in question.’” Clady, 770 F.2d at 1427 (quoting Griggs, 401 U.S. at 432, 91 S.Ct. at 854). Where, as here, a scored test is involved, the Ninth Circuit requires a showing that the test is “job-related,” that is, “that it actually measures skills, knowledge, or ability required for successful performance of the job.” Contreras v. City of Los Angeles, 656 F.2d 1267, 1271 (9th Cir.1981); accord Clady, 770 F.2d at 1427-28. The Ninth Circuit has explained the validation process as follows: The employer must first specify the particular trait or characteristic which the selection device is being used to identify or measure. The employer must then determine that that particular trait or characteristic is an important element of work behavior. Finally, the employer must demonstrate by “professionally acceptable methods” that the selection device is “predictive of or significantly correlated” with the element of work behavior identified in the second step. Craig v. County of Los Angeles, 626 F.2d 659, 662 (9th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 919, 101 S.Ct. 1364, 67 L.Ed.2d 345 (1981) (quoting Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 431, 95 S.Ct. 2362, 2378, 45 L.Ed.2d 280 (1975)). As discussed below, the Court finds that defendants have satisfied this standard. They have shown that basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics are important elements in the jobs for which the CBEST is required and that the CBEST actually measures such basic skills. In this portion of the Opinion, the Court will discuss the job-relatedness of the skills tested by the items on the CBEST and the test’s content validity for the jobs for which it is a requirement. Then, the State’s determination of where to set the passing scores on the three parts of the CBEST will be addressed. Of necessity, the Court will analyze the validity evidence in some detail. 1. As a preliminary matter, the Court will address plaintiffs’ argument that, even assuming defendants have succeeded in proving that the CBEST is content valid, the CBEST still has not been shown to be job-related because of defendants’ failure to show criterion-related validity and construct validity. “Content validity” refers to the extent to which the items on the CBEST are representative of a defined universe or domain of content, in this case, the basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills relevant to the job of teaching. A classic illustration of a content-valid test is a typing test for a typist. This is the only kind of validity evidence presented by defendants in this case. “Criterion-related validity” refers to the extent to which an individual’s score on the CBEST is predictive of some other criterion, usually job performance. A student’s score on the SAT, for example, predicts to some extent that student’s first-semester grades in college. “Construct validity” refers to the extent to which the CBEST is a measure of some hypothetical or psychological construct, such as logical reasoning ability. The Court disagrees with plaintiffs’ argument that the CBEST’s validity cannot be shown absent construct and criterion-related validity evidence. Plaintiffs have provided no authority for the proposition that all three types of validity evidence must be shown for a test to be adequately validated. Indeed, the opposite appears to be true: The Uniform Guidelines, for instance, provide that defendants “may rely upon criterion-related validity studies, content validity studies or construct validity studies.” 29 C.F.R. § 1607.5(A) (emphasis added). Moreover, the Court would not expect to find the kind of evidence of criterion-related validity that plaintiffs argue is lacking. Plaintiffs argue that the CBEST is not valid because it does not predict a candidate’s performance as a teacher. They cite both the Dick study (Ex. 205) and the Fresno study (Ex. 575 at 56-61) for this point. The CBEST, however, does not purport, and was not designed, to predict a teacher candidate’s performance on the job. Rather, as Dr. Mehrens’ testimony emphasized, the CBEST is a measure of basic skills, a minimum threshold of competency that one would not expect to be positively correlated with job performance, any more than one would expect the written driver’s examination to predict which candidates will be good drivers on the road. It is, therefore, not surprising that neither the Dick study nor the Fresno study showed any relationship between performance on the CBEST and successful performance as a teacher. Plaintiffs further contend that content validation was inappropriate, and that construct validation was necessary, because the CBEST measures general mental aptitude rather than specific skills. The Uniform Guidelines provide as follows: A selection procedure based upon inferences about mental processes cannot be supported solely or primarily on the basis of content validity. Thus, a content strategy is not appropriate for demonstrating the validity of selection procedures which purport to measure traits or constructs, such as intelligence, aptitude, personality, commonsense, judgment, leadership, and spatial ability. 29 C.F.R. § 1607.14(C). In support of this proposition, plaintiffs presented the testimony of Dr. Joel Lefkowitz. The Court rejects plaintiffs’ argument. As the Uniform Guidelines explain, a content validity strategy is only inappropriate where a selection device purports to measure a hypothetical construct or trait, such as leadership or spatial ability. The CBEST is not such a selection device; it does not purport to measure a candidate’s general mental aptitude, intelligence, or any other construct. Rather, it is designed to measure specific, well-defined skills in reading, mathematics, and writing. Moreover, there is no evidence to support the feasibility of conducting a construct validity study. “[Cjonstruct validation is frequently impossible. Even the [Uniform] Guidelines acknowledge that construct validation requires ‘an extensive and arduous effort.’” Guardians Ass’n v. Civil Serv. Comm’n, 630 F.2d 79, 92 (2d Cir.1980), cert. denied, 452 U.S. 940, 101 S.Ct. 3083, 69 L.Ed.2d 954 (1981) (quoting 29 C.F.R. § 1607.14(D)). The Court finds that not much has changed since 1978, when the authors of the Uniform Guidelines observed, “Construct validation is a relatively new and developing procedure in the employment field, and there is at present a lack of substantial literature extending the concept to employment practices.” 29 C.F.R. § 1607.14(D). The Court now turns to the validity evidence in the case. Defendants presented three validity studies of the CBEST: (1) the 1982 validity study conducted by Dr. Patricia Wheeler and Dr. Patricia Elias of the Educational Testing Service (“ETS”); (2) the 1985 Practitioners’ Review conducted by Dr. Richard Watkins; and (3) the job analysis and content validity studies conducted by Dr. Kathleen Lundquist during 1994 and 1995. As discussed below, the Court concludes that this evidence amply demonstrates the job-relatedness of the items on the CBEST. The Wheeler and Elias study was conducted in the fall of 1982, shortly before the CBEST was first administered in December 1982. It involved a total of 289 participants who reviewed the multiple-choice test items (math and reading). The participants included 277 teachers, administrators, and other nonteachers from thirteen school districts and teacher educators from twelve teacher-training institutions. The group included a fairly large sample of minority group members. In addition, 44 teachers and college faculty reviewed the essay topics and responses for the writing test. {See generally Ex. 120, Wheeler & Elias Report.) The study participants (or “judges”) conducted an item content review of the items on the reading and math subtests. A portion of the judges worked individually, and the remainder participated in discussion groups. All the judges were asked to rate the accuracy, fairness, and clarity of each test item and the relevance of each item to the job of teaching in California. The study employed a four-point scale for relevance: crucial, important, questionable, and not relevant for the job of teaching at any grade level in any subject area. Items that were marked questionable or not relevant by 40 percent or more of the judges were reviewed and a decision made to retain, revise, or discard them; .however, no item was discarded solely for lack of relevance. According to both plaintiffs’ and defendants’ experts, a 50-pereent rule for an acceptably high judgment of relevance is professionally acceptable. That is, if more than half the participants rate an item as relevant, it should be retained. In the Wheeler and Elias study, 34 out of the 40 reading items and 24 of the 40 mathematics items were judged to be crucial or important by 70 percent or more of the judges. For mathematics, an additional 9 items were deemed crucial or important by more than 60 percent of the judges. Only one of the reading items and three of the math items were rated as crucial or important by less than 50 percent of the judges. The overall relevance ratings were 76 percent crucial or important for the reading examination, and 65 percent for mathematics. In addition, there were no major differences between the relevance ratings made by teachers and those made by nonteachers. (Ex. 120 at 34-35, tbls. 14 and 15.) The second content validity study was the Practitioners’ Review conducted by Dr. Watkins in 1985. (See generally Ex. 118, report.) This study involved 234 teachers, administrators, teacher educators, and other school employees. Thirty-six percent were members of minority groups. The participants took part in nine review panels, in which they judged the relevance of both the skills assessed by the CBEST and the test items themselves. A four-point scale was used: Very relevant, moderately relevant, slightly relevant, and not relevant. The percentage of panelists who rated the CBEST skills as very relevant or moderately relevant was as follows: Reading Literal comprehension 98% Logical comprehension 97 Critical comprehension 94 Mathematics Problem solving skills 95 Applied problem solution 89 Concepts and relationships 87 Writing 99 (Ex. 118 at vi.) Thus, the vast majority of participants rated all the skills tested by the CBEST as either very or moderately relevant. With respect to the test items, the participants were asked to judge the relevance and difficulty level of each item. For the reading subtest, the questions were judged to be very relevant or moderately relevant by 90 percent of the panel members, and 89 percent judged the questions to be easy or medium in difficulty. For the mathematics subtest, 87 percent judged the questions to be very or moderately relevant, and 84 percent judged the questions to be easy or medium in difficulty. Overall, only 3 percent of the panel members rated some math questions not relevant. The third and most comprehensive series of validity studies was undertaken by Dr. Lundquist in 1994. Her work consisted of a job analysis survey and a content validation study. (See generally Ex. 1541, job analysis results; Ex. 1543, content validation report.) The survey for the job analysis was developed as follows. First, a literature search was conducted on basic skill requirements for teachers at the kindergarten through twelfth grade levels. Then, 52 California public school teachers from different grade levels, geographic areas, and ethnic groups were interviewed regarding their job activities, their use of reading, writing, and mathematics skills, and other knowledge, skills, and abilities used on the job. Eighteen of these teachers were observed on the job. The information gathered from the interviews, observations, and literature review was used to draft a preliminary list of skills and activities used by teachers. Next, panels of content experts reviewed the list of skills and abilities. In addition, the panels evaluated the skills required to use actual curricular materials, samples of which had been obtained from the interviewed teachers. The panels also linked the skill requirements to job activities. Most of the skills were determined to be required for using the curricular materials and for performing activities on the job. Dr. Lundquist concluded that there was “strong linkage of skills to [teacher job] activities.” (Ex. 1541 at 139, job analysis results.) Finally, the job analysis survey was created based on all of the collected information. The survey was then reviewed by the CTC and pilot-tested on a sample of 28 teachers, and revised accordingly. The final survey included 39 reading skills, 27 writing skills, and 37 math skills. It also surveyed 59 teacher job activities, and included questions regarding the use of non-English languages; reading, writing, and math abilities “representing the role of teachers as models of well-educated people”; and the candidate’s background. (Lundquist Direct Test, at 20.) A version of the survey for administrators was also created to determine whether they shared a common set of skill requirements with classroom teachers. The survey was distributed to more than 6,000 teachers and 1,100 administrators. Data from approximately 1,100 teachers and 230 administrators was collected. Each job activity was rated on importance, frequency, and time constraints; each skill was rated on importance, frequency, and whether it was required at entry. To identify important activities and skills, Dr. Lundquist employed a very high standard. An activity or skill was considered important (and thus retained) only if at least 80 percent of the survey respondents rated the activity or skill as applicable to the job and the mean importance rating was 1.5 or higher on the importance scale, which ranged from 0 to 3: not applicable — 0, minor — 1, important — 2, or critical — 3. Activities and skills meeting the importance criteria were then subjected to subgroup analysis by ethnic group, credential category, and primary language subgroup. Items were dropped if they showed a statistically significant mean difference for the subgroup and the mean importance rating for any subgroup was below 1.5. Of the 59 job activities, 13 were dropped under the importance criteria, and one additional activity was dropped after subgroup analysis. The results for skills were as follows: Of the 39 reading skills, one was dropped; of the 27 writing skills, two were dropped; and, most significantly, of the 37 math skills, 21 were dropped. After subgroup analyses, one additional reading skill and six additional math skills were dropped. Thus, a total of 37 reading skills, 25 writing skills, and only 10 math skills were retained as a result of the job analysis survey. Based on her comparison of teachers’ and administrators’ responses, Dr. Lundquist concluded that “all of the skills identified as important for teachers were also important for administrators.” (Ex. 1541 at 135.) In addition, Dr. Lundquist found “no meaningful differences” among ethnic groups in the skills that were deemed important, and no skills were dropped as a result of ethnic subgroup analysis. (Ex. 1541 at 131.) There was also “near unanimous agreement among teachers sampled that [basic] skills were critical for teachers in their roles as models of well-educated people.” (Ex. 1541 at 137.) The CTC was surprised, however, by the large number, and especially the types, of math skills that were dropped by the job analysis survey. Indeed, this result seemed absurd with respect to certain skills. For example, one of the skills that was dropped was “Perform arithmetic operations with basic statistical data related to test scores (e.g., averages, ratios, proportions, and percentile scores).” (Ex. 1541 at 259, job analysis results, ex. 5-20.) Obviously, teachers must know how to determine a student’s grade for the term by calculating the average of the student’s test scores. In addition, this skill just barely missed being retained; it was endorsed by 79.3 percent of the survey respondents. Only Dr. Lund-quist’s stringent 80 percent criterion resulted in its not being retained. The CTC was reluctant to alter the CBEST’s mathematics subtest in such a radical fashion without further investigation; therefore, the CTC commissioned Dr. Lund-quist to conduct a content validity study to reexamine the math skills on the CBEST. (See generally Ex. 1543, content validation report.) For the content validity study, 20 teacher educators participated in two focus groups in which they were presented with all 37 of the math skills from the original job analysis survey. As in the survey, the participants were asked to rate the applicability of each skill and whether the skill was required upon entry to the job. In addition, they were asked to rate both the current and future importance of each skill. Dr. Lundquist used roughly the same retention criteria as in the job survey analysis. For a skill to be retained, at least 80 percent of the teacher educators had to rate the skill as applicable and required at entry, and the skill had to have average current and future importance ratings equal to or greater than two (out of a three-point scale, one being “minor,” and three being “critical”). Under these criteria, 26 out of the 37 math skills were retained. All of them were rated important or critical. Those 26 math skills were then given to two groups: One composed of 26 content experts and another of 28 community members. The two groups were asked to rate the applicability of each skill and whether it was required at entry. If either group found that a particular skill was applicable and required at entry (using the 80 percent agreement criterion), then that skill was retained. The content expert panel retained 17 skills, the community group, 16 skills. Overall, 19 of the 26 math skills were ultimately retained: the original 10 that had been retained after the job analysis survey, plus 9 additional skills. Dr. Lundquist then formulated new test specifications for all three parts of the test, after conducting an additional study in which the skill factors and the skills that comprised them were reviewed by a group of teacher educators and a group of content experts. Although the test specifications for reading and writing were reformulated, they correspond to the former CBEST specifications (Ex. 188) for those sections. For mathematics, however, several skills in the old test specifications cannot be matched in the new specifications, as those skills were dropped as not job-related by the job analysis and content validity study. In comparing the new CBEST test specifications to test items on two forms of the CBEST, Dr. Lundquist was only able to match 40 percent of the test items to the new test specifications; the other 60 percent of the test items were no longer applicable because they related to nonjob-related skills no longer included in the CBEST test specifications. (Ex. 1548 at 4r-6,4r-23, ex. 4-6). The CBEST was revised before the August 1995 administration in response to Dr. Lundquist’s content validation study and the revised test specifications. The math skills tested on the examination were limited to the 19 that had been confirmed by the content validity study. For both reading and mathematics, the skills were weighted proportionately to their criticality ratings in the job analysis survey. Plaintiffs take issue with several aspects of Dr. Lundquist’s work. Their most serious complaint is that the content validation study improperly negated the job analysis results by restoring a substantial portion of the mathematics skills, which would have been— and, according to plaintiffs, should have been — dropped as a result of the job analysis. In their view, the judgments of a small group of teachers were allowed to override the judgments of more than 1,100 teachers. The Court, however, agrees that both the decision to reexamine the math skills and the process by which Dr. Lundquist conducted the content validity study reflect sound professional judgments in light of the questionable results of the job analysis survey. First, the Court agrees with the judgment of Dr. Mehrens that the criteria used by Dr. Lund-quist for retaining skills in the job analysis were exceedingly conservative. Under less stringent criteria, several of the mathematics skills that were thrown out as a result of the job analysis, including the ability to