Stanford 9 Publisher Penalized

The state Board of Education on Monday punished the publisher of the Stanford 9 exam for botching test scores last month, cutting $1.1 million from the company’s $22-million tab.

Angry board members lashed out at Harcourt Educational Measurement for allowing data errors to delay the release of school and district scores for three weeks and to undermine the credibility of California’s testing program.

“I think it sends a very stern message that a great deal of expectations are placed upon the assessment of California’s kids,” board member Yvonne Larsen said after the penalty was approved. “This is the message that we are sending, and we trust that it will be honored accordingly.”

Harcourt officials, who have publicly acknowledged several scoring snafus, greeted the board’s decision with dismay.

“We’re disappointed,” said Jack Dilworth, group president of Harcourt Inc., the parent company of the test publisher. “The Stanford 9 is an excellent test. People ought to continue to use the scores for good educational purposes.”

The penalty, 5% of the money due Harcourt, was the maximum amount the board could have levied under state regulations. The board has yet to decide whether to withhold a $2.2-million performance bond posted by the company, which is in only its second year of the statewide testing program.

Problems with the test scores began to appear even before statewide scores, minus school and district results, were posted on the Internet on June 30.

Harcourt acknowledged that it had mistakenly lumped the scores of about 250,000 students who had been redesignated as being fluent in English with the results of youngsters still learning English. The error artificially inflated the scores for limited-English students in many school districts.

Then it was revealed that Harcourt had applied incorrect national norm samples to 44 districts with year-round schools, also tainting that information. The problem is still unresolved at schools in three districts: Long Beach, Glendale and Ontario-Montclair.

Meanwhile, about 420,000 students’ test forms did not specify whether they spoke English fluently, clouding the state’s efforts to break down results by language ability.

A new problem came to light Monday. State officials revealed that the test scores for 27 of the state’s 29 “independent” charter schools--those that operate exclusive of local district control--are not posted on the Internet.

Harcourt officials said scores have been sent to the schools and are included in county and state reports on the Internet. The company is working to resolve the issue but gave no specific time frame.

Although they accept blame for most of the blunders, Harcourt officials said Monday that the company was not solely responsible for all of the problems.

They cited the 420,000 missing language designations as an example, saying that school districts failed to provide the information on test forms. State officials, however, said Harcourt was required to notify districts of such discrepancies and make an effort to resolve them.

“We think this is the responsibility of the publisher to correct the information problems with the districts,” said Leslie Fausset, the state’s chief deputy superintendent of curriculum.

Board Isn’t Happy With Harcourt Idea

As an alternative to the state’s penalty, Harcourt officials had proposed that the company resolve the problem of the missing language designations--as well as lesser discrepancies in data on gender and economic status--for free. The work would have cost Harcourt $600,000 to $800,000.

Members of the state board reacted angrily to Harcourt’s proposal, saying the company should have offered to fix the problem as a gesture of good will. They pointed out that the company delivered testing materials late to some districts.

“This alternative to the penalty--to explain that to the general public as somehow satisfying the damage that has been done by the way the test was administered--is laughable,” said board member Susan Hammer.

She added: “Our taking this matter very, very seriously will help begin to restore the credibility of this assessment throughout the state of California.”

In its action Monday, the state board reduced from $5.21 to $4.95 the amount Harcourt is paid for each of the 4.2 million tests it administered in California in grades two through 11 last spring. That reduction equals $1.1 million.

The money ultimately will be held back by the state’s 1,055 school districts, which maintain individual contracts with Harcourt and pay their own bills with money from the state.

Pending legislation would create one contract between Harcourt and the state, creating more accountability, its supporters contend.

Harcourt could still face an even greater penalty. The state maintains a performance bond for 10% of the testing amount, or about $2.2 million. The state board will decide by the end of the year whether to further penalize the company.

Harcourt officials expressed confidence that any remaining issues will be worked out in the coming months.

“We’re making sure that next year’s program runs very smoothly,” said Joanne M. Lenke, president of Harcourt Educational Measurement. “The STAR testing program is a very large, complex program.”

Lenke said she is stepping down from her post next week for reasons unrelated to the testing problems.

Harcourt wasn’t the only publisher going before the state board Monday. CTB/McGraw Hill, which publishes the Spanish-language exam given to nearly 118,000 students last spring, sailed through the process. The state board approved the payment of nearly $525,000 to be funneled through school districts.