Testing firm accepts penalty

Monday, Aug. 26, 2002 | 8:44 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A national school testing company that fouled up the test scores of more than 700 Nevada high school students will be assessed a $425,000 penalty, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack McLaughlin said.

It is one of the stiffest fines ever imposed in the nation on such a company, said McLaughlin, who was scheduled to present details of the settlement to a special meeting of the state Board of Education today.

Harcourt Educational Measurement Corp. has agreed to accept the penalty, which amounts to nearly 10 percent of its contract, McLaughlin said.

In addition, Harcourt will pay for an independent audit team to assess its performance for the remainder of its contract, which expires in June.

Max Tudor, vice president of the western region for Harcourt, said it was a fair outcome.

"There was a perception we were resisting," he said. "That is not true."

Tudor said company President Dean Nafziger was expected to attend today's meeting.

Harcourt has a $4.8 million, 18-month contract to develop and grade the state's high school proficiency test and a test given to third and fifth graders. It is also working with the state to develop a test for eighth graders.

Harcourt, in grading the high school proficiency tests earlier this year, erroneously told 736 high school sophomores and juniors they had failed. Harcourt initially suggested the students needed to correctly answer 42 of the 60 questions on the math test to pass. But then it discovered the error and said the students needed only 41 correct answers.

There have also been past problems with Harcourt, including late delivery of tests and grammatical errors.

McLaughlin said Nafziger has been calling members of the state Board of Education to apologize. The president said steps have been taken to ensure such an error will not occur again.

Some board members, when the error was revealed last month, called for canceling the contract with Harcourt, but McLaughlin said it would be difficult to get another testing firm on board with such short notice.

He said hiring a new company that quickly could lead to further errors.

Of the total penalty, $275,000 will be in cash to the state Department of Education. Harcourt will be required to provide $100,000 in services free to the school districts and also to provide $50,000 in books and materials to the districts.

McLaughlin said district superintendents will have to decide how the extra $150,000 will be distributed.

After the error was discovered, Paul LaMarca, the state's director of assessments, curricula and instructional support, met with Harcourt officials to outline the proposed penalty. Education officials said the company balked at the initial proposed fine but then reached the agreement.

McLaughlin and Nafziger are scheduled to appear Tuesday before the Legislature's Education Committee to discuss the agreement.