Testing firm agrees to penalty for error

Monday, Oct. 27, 2003 | 9:09 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A national education testing company has agreed to pay a penalty for a foul-up in grading scores of tests of Nevada students -- but the state won't receive any cold hard cash.

A tentative agreement between Harcourt Education Management and the state Department of Education calls for the company to provide $435,000 in additional services to the state.

In addition, another $50,000 was assessed to reimburse school districts for their extra work in correcting the blunder and for a study to assess the quality of Harcourt's procedures.

The proposed settlement was outlined before the state Board of Education on Saturday. The board will decide whether to give final approval at its December meeting.

Board member Marcia Washington of Las Vegas said she is adopting a "three strikes and you're out" stance. One more error by Harcourt and the state should end the contract, she said.

Other board members had questions about the services Harcourt would provide the state in addition to those specified in the contract.

Harcourt was already fined $425,000 for mistakes in grading the tests of high school students. In the latest foul-up, the company used the wrong table in grading the results of tests given third and fifth graders at an estimated 220 elementary schools in Nevada, resulting in the wrong test scores.

Harcourt graded the tests using a scoring system based on 37 questions used in the old test instead of 41 questions in the new test. As a result students received higher grades for marking the correct answers.

School districts had to spend time and money in mailing out the correct scores to parents.

Paul La Marca, director of the Office of Assessments in the state Department of Education, said this was the maximum penalty allowed under the contract. La Marca said the quality assurance study will determine if the company can guarantee there will not be future errors. If there are shortcomings, Harcourt will be given the opportunity to correct them, he said.

If the company cannot guarantee error-free performance, the state will move to another contractor, he said.

Earlier this year the education department signed an $18 million extension on its contract with Harcourt to develop and score the high school proficiency tests and the tests given in elementary schools for four more years.

La Marca said the department and Harcourt are working on what extra services will be provided the state to satisfy the $435,000 penalty. This could entail added reading programs or more analysis of test scores.

Board president Gary Waters of Las Vegas said he wants "to hear how the problem is fixed," before the company provides "goodies" in extra services. He cautioned that he didn't want programs started by Harcourt that would commit the state to allocating more money to continue them.

"I don't want to depend on the penalty to provide future services," Waters said.

Board member John Hawk said, "I want services so there are no errors in the future."

No one from Harcourt spoke at the meeting.