State education officials moved Wednesday to dramatically recast California's system to evaluate school quality by suspending the use of standardized test scores as the major yardstick in favor of a broader array of measures.

The State Board of Education unanimously voted to suspend for a year the Academic Performance Index, which is based on standardized test scores and widely used to evaluate a school's performance in boosting academic achievement. Since the state is rolling out new tests this year, board members said they wanted at least two years of results to judge school progress.

Amid a national backlash against the overuse of test scores, board members also voted to shift from a school quality measure based solely on exam results to one that would include other factors. Possible additions include student attendance, dropout rates, suspensions, English proficiency, access to educational materials and performance in college-level classes.

"We have an opportunity to hit the reset button," board member Patricia A. Rucker said at the Sacramento meeting.

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