Las Vegas Sun

November 16, 2009

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Editorial: Proficiency exam snafu to be costly

Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2002 | 9:10 a.m.

On Monday the state Board of Education imposed a $425,000 fine on a national educational testing company for some egregious mistakes it made on a proficiency exam given to Nevada high school students. Harcourt Educational Measurement was lucky its $2.3 million contract with Nevada wasn't terminated, considering that the company incorrectly figured how many correct answers were needed to pass the proficiency test given in April. That mistake meant that 736 sophomores and juniors were told they failed the test when actually they had passed it.

The Board of Education warned the company Monday that all of its educational contracts with Nevada would be terminated if the company commits a similar mistake in the future. If that were to happen, the company would lose a total of $4.6 million annually. No matter what steps the company takes to try to prevent another foul-up from happening, state educators should start looking around now for other companies that can do a better job.

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