Seniors forced to wait for test scores

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Friday, May 28, 2004 | 11:07 a.m.

High school seniors waiting to find out if they passed the statewide proficiency exam required for graduation will have to be patient -- a mistake in the computerized scoring system has caused a delay, Nevada Department of Education officials said Thursday.

School districts had hoped to see results from the May 17 statewide exams today. Instead the results will be finished Monday and delivered electronically to schools by Tuesday, said Gloria Dopf, deputy superintendent of instruction for the Nevada Department of Education.

The delay isn't expected to affect the Clark County School District, which had already intended to distribute scores Tuesday because school is not in session today or Monday, said John Carpenter of the district's testing office. Of the 12,442 credit-sufficient seniors in Clark County, 2,725 needed to pass the math section, 839 the writing section and 1,027 the reading section.

Clark County's graduation schedule begins June 4 and all students should be notified by then, Carpenter said.

But officials in several other districts -- including Washoe County -- said they had expected to distribute proficiency results today.

Paul LaMarca, director of assessments, program accountability and curriculum for the state education department, said there was never a guaranteed delivery date for the May proficiency exam results.

"Everything is done as humanly possible to turn the exams around as fast as we can," LaMarca said. "There may be a perception of a delay in some people's minds, but in reality the results are still going to be returned far more quickly than is usual."

The normal turnaround time for the proficiency exam is 14 to 21 days, LaMarca said.

"Tuesday is still well within our guidelines," LaMarca said.

Students who complete the required 22.5 credits but do not pass allsections of the proficiency exam are given a "Certificate of Attendance" instead of a full diploma. Clark County, along with 14 other Nevada school districts, do not distinguish between the diploma and the certificate for the purposes of participation in commencement.

The state's other two school districts -- Carson City and Douglas County -- do not allow students to participate in graduation ceremonies unless they earn full diplomas.

The biggest impact from the delay may be felt by two seniors at Pioneer High School, an alternative education program in the Carson City School District, who are waiting for the results of their proficiency exams.

Karen Wallace, an administrative assistant for educational services in the Carson City district, said she plans to drive to the state education department's headquarters Tuesday morning and pick up the test results for the two students at Pioneer and another nine seniors at Carson High School. Pioneer's graduation ceremonies are scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, and if the results aren't ready the students will not be allowed to take part, Wallace said.

"If they don't pass they can't walk," Wallace said. "Rules are rules."

John McKenna, a member of the Carson City School Board, said the standard for graduation participation is set by each high school's administration.

"I would back the school's decision and not force my judgment on them," McKenna said.

Barbara Myers, a member of the state education board who represents Carson City, said the delay in latest test scores highlights her long-standing argument that all credit-sufficient seniors should be allowed to participate in graduation.

"Students get another chance to pass the test over the summer but they never get another chance to walk with their class," Myers said. "It's ridiculous to think a student could miss out on that opportunity because of a computer error."

Graduations begin Wednesday in Washoe County, which means some students won't know if they will receive diplomas until the day before the event, said Steve Mulvenon, spokesman for the district.

"The good news for us is that no one's going to miss out on graduation because of the delay," Mulvenon said. "They're going to find out later than they probably wanted but it's not going to make a big difference in the long run."

The Nevada State High School Proficiency Exam is given throughout the year and the results are scored by San Antonio-based Harcourt Testing Co., which developed the exam. Only the May round of the test -- limited to seniors -- is scored in-state in order to provide the results more quickly to schools.

The answer sheet for this year's proficiency test was changed but the state's scoring program was not updated to reflect the changes, Dopf said. The problem was discovered earlier this week as the exams were being scored, Dopf said. MCS, the vendor responsible for the state's computer scoring system, couldn't fix the problem quickly enough and Harcourt agreed to take over, Dopf said. The exams -- more than 3,000 of them -- were sent by express mail to San Antonio, Dopf said.

Harcourt officials have promised to work over the holiday weekend and have the results to the state by Monday, Dopf said. Harcourt has faced sharp criticism for past mistakes in handling some of the statewide exams, and education department officials are planning to consider bids from other vendors interested in replacing the company.

However in this instance Harcourt has "risen to the occasion," Dopf said.

Gary Waters, president of the State Board of Education, said he was unaware of the delay until contacted by the Sun for comment. He said he plans to investigate why the in-state scoring system wasn't updated

The May round of the proficiency exam always poses a risk of students getting results close to -- or even after -- their school graduations, Waters said.

"This is designed as a last-minute thing to get those final kids through," he said.