4,000 teachers
fail faulty testThe licensing exam was used
in Hawaii and 17 other states
PRINCETON, N.J. >> Mistakes in scoring an examination used by Hawaii and 17 other states for licensing teachers caused more than 4,000 people who should have passed to receive failing grades, the Educational Testing Service said.
The failing grades resulted from an essay portion of the test being graded too harshly, a company spokesman said yesterday. He said he did not know if the error caused any of the applicants to be rejected for teaching jobs.
Hawaii Department of Education spokesman Greg Knudsen said it likely did not affect any teacher hirings or salary.
Knudsen said the department often hires teachers before they have completed the examination process or received test scores. However, he said it could have affected the length of a teacher's probation period.
"We would not reject someone just because they need to retake a portion of the exam," he added.
Joan Husted, executive director of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, said she had neither heard about the mistake nor received any complaints from teachers regarding the test.
"It would definitely affect the calculation of a teacher's probationary period," Husted said. "And that's not a minor issue."
ETS began contacting those affected over the weekend and said it will refund nearly a half-million dollars' worth of fees and materials costs.
"We sincerely apologize for this unfortunate situation," company spokesman Tom Ewing said. "We realize that teachers and prospective teachers are relying on this as part of their licensure procedure. We're taking steps to ensure that similar instances can't happen in the future."
At issue is the Praxis Principles of Learning and Teaching for Grades 7 to 12, officially named Praxis P.L.T. 7-12. The errors occurred from January 2003 to April 2004 in eight separate instances involving about 40,000 test takers, Ewing said.
He said ETS officials noticed lower scores than usual on two administrations of the test.
"There were explanations for those lower scores that seemed to make sense, such as the ability of the candidates at different times of the year, the change in the size of the (test-taking) population that can sometimes cause scores to be lower, things like that," he said.
"Upon further investigation, we determined those lower scores were more a result of the short essay portion being graded more stringently," he said. "When you use human scorers, they're trained very specifically on how to grade and what to look for. There's always that variable of human decision."
He said the company will reimburse the candidates for the $115 test fee and for materials they used to prepare for it.
The company began calling candidates affected by the errors over the weekend to inform them that had indeed passed, and has set up a toll-free number -- (800) 205-2626 -- for further information.
In addition to Hawaii, other states that use the test include Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia. The U.S. Department of Defense also employs the test.
Star-Bulletin reporter Sally Apgar and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Educational Testing Service
www.ets.org