Editorial praises test in MN

[Teresa Saum <teresak@PRAIRIE.LAKES.COM>]

Editorial: State should have acted sooner on test mistakes
Tuesday, August 1, 2000
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Thanks to a conscientious dad, nearly 8,000 Minnesota students now
know they passed a state exam they thought they had failed. At first
blush, that's great news for the teens. But it casts a dark cloud on
the competency of the testing firm and the Department of Children,
Families and Learning (CFL).
National Computer Systems (NCS), the Eden Prairie-based firm that did
the scoring, should have double-checked its work. And the CFL erred
by not responding quickly enough to a concerned parent. Both are
missteps that should be investigated thoroughly.
The hero of this incident is Marty Swaden of Mendota Heights. He
contacted CFL in early May when he received word that his 15-year-old
daughter failed the math exam. First by e-mail and later by
telephone, he asked to see the exam. More than two months after his
initial request, he sat down with a CFL employee to review his
daughter's test. Together, Swaden and a CFL testing specialist came
across five questions that had been scored incorrectly.
Swaden's daughter, and thousands of other eighth-through
11th-graders, were disappointed unnecessarily; some may be attending
summer school courses they don't need. Consequences for this blunder
are even more serious for the 336 seniors who may have been denied
graduation. College admission or scholarships may have been lost,
jobs denied or summer plans dramatically altered because NCS did not
get the numbers right.
To their credit, both the CFL and NCS are owning up to the blunder
and taking steps to make it right. The CFL employee who failed to
respond to Swaden promptly has been disciplined, and two NCS
employees have been relieved of some duties.
School districts soon will receive corrected scores. Exam results and
an apology will be mailed to all students by Aug. 21. NCS will be
audited by an outside firm to help avoid similar mistakes in the
future. A special public graduation ceremony will be held for those
students who were denied their diplomas because of the error. And NCS
is footing the bill for everything, plus offering $1,000 tuition
reimbursements for postsecondary studies for that same group of
seniors. In the future, the state also will independently audit test
results from private companies.
Although it was serious, this mixup is no reason to give up on
Minnesota's high-stakes tests. Since the eighth-grade level exams
were first given in 1996, the tests have done far more good than harm
to improve K-12 education. Each year has brought steady improvement
and increases in the pass rate -- many students and their families
are clearly taking learning more seriously. The exams have helped
educators identify the students who need help and formulate programs
to work with them.
The math, reading and writing tests are first given in the eighth
grade; students have 14 more opportunities to take and pass them
before graduation. The tests help ensure that all 17-year-olds master
the basics before receiving a diploma.