KENNEWICK – The same company that made mistakes on the scoring of 4,400 SAT college entrance exams will be grading this year’s high-stakes Washington Assessment of Student Learning, state officials said.
Both the College Board, which administers the SAT, and the Office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction contract with Pearson Educational Measurement to score their tests, said Kim Schmanke, a spokeswoman for the superintendent’s office.
“This is a good opportunity for us to talk with Pearson to say, What are you doing to ensure that our process is secure?” Schmanke said.
“We know that the SAT and the WASL are scored very differently, and that lessens our level of concern and anxiety,” she added.
The superintendent’s office is in the middle of a five-year contract with Pearson, a Seattle newspaper reported. Pearson spokesman David Hakensen said Pearson works on test development and scoring in 20 states.
“Were confident there are no issues with any of our state programs,” Hakensen said.
Out of 495,000 SAT tests, 4,036 students were notified in early March that their tests had been scored incorrectly. Pearson and the College Board announced Wednesday that an additional 27,000 exams had not been re-scored as previously believed, adding 375 students to the ranks of students with errors on their SAT scores.
In 1999, about 410,000 WASL essays were scored incorrectly and later re-graded at a cost of $600,000, the Seattle report said. The subcontractor that made those mistakes since has been bought by Pearson.
Dozens of freshman applicants at Washington universities were affected by the scoring mistake, including six at Central Washington University, 10 at Washington State University and 17 at the University of Washington. At CWU and WSU, the changes were small enough that none of the students acceptances or rejections were affected, admissions directors said.
Admissions directors at state universities have said the WASL will not be used for making admissions decisions, and WASL scores will not be posted on student transcripts.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
