CARSON CITY -- In an embarrassing gaffe to the state, education officials were notified last week that 736 sophomores and juniors, who were told they failed the Nevada high school proficiency test in April, have actually passed.
Harcourt Educational Measurement, the private company that has the $2.3 million state contract to develop and score the test, told the state Education Department on Thursday of its error.
The news sparked an angry outburst from members of the state Board of Education Friday, some of whom are calling for canceling the contract of the company that is one of the largest firms in the nation in school testing.
"Forget about a slap on the wrist," said board member Marcia Washington of Las Vegas. "If possible, let's cancel the contract."
Agustin Orci, deputy superintendent of the Clark County School District's instruction unit, said this morning the errors were "outrageous."
Preparing for the proficiency exam can be time-consuming and stressful, with many students seeking extra help in the months leading up to the tests, Orci said. For students to be told they failed when they actually passed is an unfair emotional blow, Orci said.
"We pay for this service, we deserve accurate information," Orci said. "We deserve an explanation of how this happened, and the kids deserve an apology from the company."
Orci said it was fortunate the testing errors only involved sophomores and juniors. "We would hate to find out we told a senior they didn't qualify to graduate when they really could have," Orci said.
Board member Jan Biggerstaff of Las Vegas said the company has made errors across the country.
"I've had a concern for six to eight months," Biggerstaff said. "We should think seriously about changing," the contractors.
Robert Ramirez, program manager for Harcourt and Max Tudor, vice president of the western region for the company, attended the meeting, and afterwards, they said the error was reported as soon as it as discovered.
"We will work to do whatever is right," Ramirez said. "We will do everything that is appropriate."
Company President Dean Nafzier, in a letter to the state, said, "We are putting the necessary steps in place to ensure than an error of this type will not occur again. We are committed to working to restore your confidence in our ability to provide quality services to the state of Nevada." Paul LaMarca, who heads the testing program in the Education Department, relayed the "bad news" to the board. He said there has been a "sequence of errors committed by Harcourt" since they took over the testing program at the start of the year.
These included timely delivery of the tests and grammatical errors, he said.
"We question their capacity to serve the state," LaMarca said. He added there would be a "significant penalty" imposed on Harcourt.
"There is no excuse for this type of reporting error," LaMarca said. "It is egregious."
It will be up to the staff of the state department to work out the penalty and come back to the board with a recommendation whether to cancel the contract. But that would take time to get another testing company ready to assume the job. And some board members said hasty actions should not be taken.
LaMarca said the error occurred when Harcourt figured students needed to correctly answer 42 questions to pass the math test. Harcourt then discovered it would take only 41 correct answers. LaMarca said "the error was a result of an improperly formatted file."
No senior was involved in the error. And education board members were thankful for that. It could have meant they would not have graduated.
Board member Merv Iverson of Las Vegas, said, "This is a disaster. I'm grateful there were no 12th graders. We would be in deep doo-doo."
Iverson called it "inexcusable" on the part of Harcourt and he added, "Harcourt has to pay for all this nonsense."
Board member Peggy Bowen said she hoped no student had dropped out of school because of the reported failure.
High school students must pass the proficiency test before they get a degree. They get several chances starting in their sophomore year.
The error affected students in 83 schools in all districts that administer the examination. Several students attending private schools were also hit.
Jack McLaughlin, state superintendent of public instruction, said he was extremely dissatisfied with Harcourt.
"We are here to serve student, to ensure that they have the opportunity to succeed academically, and to provide them with the opportunity to demonstrate achievement," he said. "This error in reporting means we have failed in our responsibility to students.
"If we as a state hold students and schools accountable for academic achievement, we too must be held accountable for our actions."
He said Harcourt must be held accountable.
"The future of our relationship with Harcourt is not clear," McLaughlin said.
The state department has sent notifications to all the districts that in turn will notify the students. The test was administered to 31,000 students in April.
Sun reporter Emily Richmond contributed to this story.
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