State may discipline cause of late school tests

The person responsible for getting tests out late to schools that needed them to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act could face state disciplinary action.

"We are looking at the possibility," interim state superintendent of public instruction Patrick Ogden told the State Board of Education Tuesday.

Other steps also will be taken to ensure printing glitches aren't repeated.

Last month, schools in as many as half of Utah's 40 school districts received some core curriculum tests (CRTs) days or even weeks late, sometimes pushing testing to the week before school ended. Some teachers feared spring fever would have set in by then and students wouldn't do their best on the exam.

The CRTs show what students learned in class all year. They are required for first- through 11th-graders in math and language arts, and fourth-graders on up in science, under the state's accountability system, U-PASS. They also meet No Child Left Behind requirements, and are used to determine whether schools will be publicly labeled as failing to make adequate yearly progress toward achievement goals.

The State Office of Education for the first time this year retooled all those exams to prevent cheating and meet new curriculum standards. Tests were sent last October and November to printers — including school districts and state prison inmates — which met deadlines scheduled according to each school district's three-week testing windows.

But some deadlines reflected the wrong dates. Some tests were retooled too late. Minor equipment failures made things worse.

The person who sent the wrong dates to printers could be disciplined but not fired, Ogden said.

Other steps also will be taken to ensure schools receive the tests on time. State Office of Education staff will oversee test printing and distribution instead of a clerk, Ogden said. Printing will start with estimated numbers needed instead of waiting until orders are firmed up. Outside printers will contract for emergencies. And tests will be developed as far in advance as possible.

The state school board also wants updates on test printing in December and February, to ensure things remain on track.

"This was not a good experience, and this must not happen again," state school board chairman Kim Burningham said.

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