This paper describes some of the issues of fairness for Hispanic English Language Learners (ELLs) taking the Stanford 9 (SAT 9) achievement test, a norm-referenced standardized achievement test administered annually to California students in grades 2-11. Until a student is at ease in English, a process that may take as long as 7 years, an achievement test is really only a crude test of English competence. Some of the items of the SAT 9 may have sloppy or tricky language, and the spelling test is really a test of proofreading. The processing speed of bilingual students may be reduced, and factors such as the lack of familiarity with the test, social and cultural biases, and the evaluation methods used in interpreting the test all enter into the fairness of the testing situation. A chief problem with the SAT 9 is that too many items measure what students have learned at home rather than what has been taught at school. California taxpayers are spending, and possibly wasting, a lot of money on a test that ineffectively assesses students' levels of learning the curriculum. Some ways to make assessment of ELLs more fair are discussed. Until there is a better testing system, parents, teachers, and school and state administrators need to be more creative in assembling resources to give ELLs the opportunity to achieve greater success on the SAT 9. Sample lesson plans and some assessments for elementary school students are attached. (Contains 14 references.) (SLD)