CALABASAS : Panel Arrives to Study SAT Charges

A team of investigators from the national agency that administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test arrived at Calabasas High School on Wednesday to look into charges that some students obtained answers before taking the exam earlier this month.

The investigators were dispatched from the Princeton, N.J., headquarters of the Educational Testing Service in response to complaints that some students may have acquired bootleg answers from a private tutor in the western San Fernando Valley before the Oct. 10 test. Soon after the exam--which most colleges require of their applicants--Calabasas High officials received anonymous letters and a phone call detailing the accusations.

“We have been looking into the situation for a couple of weeks now,” ETS spokesman Ray Nicosia said. “It’s something we’ve done extensive phone work on, and we’re now at the point where we are doing an on-site investigation.”

He added that on-site inquiries are conducted only when the agency believes its stringent security measures may actually have been violated.

Taft High School in Woodland Hills also has logged similar complaints, which are “being looked into,” Nicosia said. But the testing service had not yet decided whether to open a formal investigation at any other local site besides the Calabasas campus.