Education board wants testing company fined for mistakes

Monday, Sept. 29, 2003 | 9:41 a.m.

The Nevada State Board of Education called the performance of Harcourt Educational Measurement, the Texas-based testing firm used by the state, unsatisfactory and recommended a hefty fine for its latest error in school scores, a board member said.

The board did not cancel the multimillion-dollar contract Harcourt has with the state at its Saturday meeting, member Marcia Washington of Las Vegas said.

However, state board members called for a penalty that could reach $483,000, she said.

Although the contract allows negotiating a penalty, the board recommended the state levy the maximum fine.

Washington said it will be up to the state Department of Education to set the penalty after consulting with its attorneys and counsel for Harcourt.

"I said maximum penalty," Washington said Sunday.

The board will consider the penalty and any further action at its next meeting Oct. 24.

The education department discovered in August that thousands of Nevada students in third and fifth grades received inflated scores on basic skill tests such as reading and math given in the spring because of a mistake by Harcourt.

The company's error occurred after a mistaken calculation while converting raw scores, or the number of correct answers.

About 20 nine-month schools in Clark County received inaccurate results for the basic skills tests. The students were tested in April and May.

A suggestion was made at Saturday's meeting that the affected schools receive compensation from Harcourt to cover the cost of sending a second round of test scores to parents.

Harcourt has made two major mistakes in Nevada testing scores since 2002.

The company was fined $425,000 for miscalculating scores that showed 736 Nevada high school sophomores and juniors had failed, when, in fact, they had passed the exams.

Passing such proficiency examinations is required to earn a high school diploma in Nevada.

Harcourt's error did not keep students from graduation, but it did delay parents from discovering which schools need improvement.