Students May Have to Retake Exam

About 400 students who recently completed the ACT college entrance exam at El Camino Real High School are waiting to hear if they will need to retake the three-hour test after a copy of the test was stolen.

Despite strict security measures, some test booklets sent to the Woodland Hills school were missing Saturday--the day of the test, said Ken Gullette, spokesman for ACT Inc., which owns the test that is taken by 1.8 million students nationwide each year.

A faculty member administering the exam called the Iowa-based test company on Saturday to say some exam booklets were missing, said Gullette, who was unsure if the discovery was made before or after the test started.

Because the incident happened on school property, school police launched an investigation that revealed four El Camino students were involved in some way, although the details are still being sorted out, said district spokeswoman Cricket Bauer.

“We’re working with the [Los Angeles Unified] school district very closely, trying to determine how widespread the prior knowledge was. Based on that, we will determine what, if any, retesting will be necessary,” Gullette said. “Naturally, we don’t want anyone to have to retest unless we feel security was violated.”

Any student found to have seen the test in advance will have his or her score nullified, he said. In about a week, ACT Inc. expects to determine who needs to retake the test. ACT Inc. will decide if it will file any charges in the matter, school officials said.

“The story is still unfolding. What [the students] initially told us isn’t what they’re saying now,” Bauer said. “Three [students] said they saw the test and the fourth one has changed his story.”

Disciplinary actions, which could include suspension, will be decided by the principal based on district policy, officials said.

El Camino Principal Ron Bauer, who is unrelated to Cricket Bauer, did not return phone calls on Thursday.

District officials could not say when the investigation would be completed.