Bill tightens security for school testing

Erin Neff

Tuesday, April 3, 2001 | 9:42 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- When teachers, parents and students began noticing irregularities with standardized testing in the Clark County School District last year, cheating began to make front-page news.

On Monday the Assembly Education Committee passed a bill that would require tighter scrutiny of testing procedures statewide.

Assembly Bill 214, introduced by the committee after an interim investigation last year into the irregularities surrounding the TerraNova exam, cleared the committee with a small amendment Monday.

The bill requires the state Department of Education to adopt a plan to ensure security around all standardized tests given in each school district. The plan must include procedures for students, parents and teachers to report irregularities and to ensure the careful handling of test booklets and other test information.

The bill requires the plan to be submitted by Sept. 1 of each year.

Standardized testing has become a high-stakes business nationwide because test scores are tied closely to teacher and school success, and in some places, to funding and pay raises. In Nevada, where high school students must pass a proficiency exam to earn their diplomas, the testing has taken on just as significant importance. TerraNova scores are used to determine whether schools are in need of improvement. Those that score poorly three years in a row can be taken over by the state.

Last fall a teacher and several students began leaking word to the media about several breaches in security related to the standardized TerraNova exam. One teacher reported a case in which the test booklet was used to teach and prepare students for the test.

Robert E. Lake Elementary School was singled out as a site where four such breaches of security occurred.