2008 Woodie Awards
Conn. college applications eyed after SAT scoring errors
Stephanie Reitz Associated Press
Issue date: 3/19/06 Section: News
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Connecticut's colleges and universities are reviewing hundreds of applications from students who received the wrong SAT results because of a scoring error.
About 4,000 test takers nationwide, including 241 in Connecticut, learned this week that they earned higher scores than the SAT results reported last fall to them and to the colleges they hope to attend.
The mistake could have affected admissions decisions, financial aid offers and placement in honors programs.
"We're working to make sure the students will not be held responsible for a mistake that was made that was beyond their control. It just would not be fair," said M. Dolan Evanovich, vice provost at the University of Connecticut, which is reviewing 231 cases.
The College Board, which administers the SAT college exam program, informed about 4,000 test takers and 1,168 colleges this week about the error. It is adjusting the scores and refunding the students' registration fees.
Don Goranson, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said 34,313 public and private high school students in Connecticut took the SAT last year. Of the 241 students who received incorrect scores, the largest concentration in one school was 25 test-takers at Cheshire High School.
Eleven students were affected at Fairfield Ludlowe High School, while 10 each were affected at Bacon Academy in Colchester and Naugatuck High School.
Eight students at the private Kent School received incorrect scores, while anywhere from one to four students at 98 other schools also were affected.
The association's scoring contractor, Pearson Educational Measurement, blamed two factors: humidity during last October's heavy rains that permeated some test sheets, making it difficult for electronic scanners to read them; and some tests on which answer ovals had been marked too lightly.
In about four of every five cases, the incorrect SAT results were 10 to 40 points lower than the tallies that the students had actually earned.
About 4,000 test takers nationwide, including 241 in Connecticut, learned this week that they earned higher scores than the SAT results reported last fall to them and to the colleges they hope to attend.
The mistake could have affected admissions decisions, financial aid offers and placement in honors programs.
"We're working to make sure the students will not be held responsible for a mistake that was made that was beyond their control. It just would not be fair," said M. Dolan Evanovich, vice provost at the University of Connecticut, which is reviewing 231 cases.
The College Board, which administers the SAT college exam program, informed about 4,000 test takers and 1,168 colleges this week about the error. It is adjusting the scores and refunding the students' registration fees.
Don Goranson, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said 34,313 public and private high school students in Connecticut took the SAT last year. Of the 241 students who received incorrect scores, the largest concentration in one school was 25 test-takers at Cheshire High School.
Eleven students were affected at Fairfield Ludlowe High School, while 10 each were affected at Bacon Academy in Colchester and Naugatuck High School.
Eight students at the private Kent School received incorrect scores, while anywhere from one to four students at 98 other schools also were affected.
The association's scoring contractor, Pearson Educational Measurement, blamed two factors: humidity during last October's heavy rains that permeated some test sheets, making it difficult for electronic scanners to read them; and some tests on which answer ovals had been marked too lightly.
In about four of every five cases, the incorrect SAT results were 10 to 40 points lower than the tallies that the students had actually earned.