Judge won’t halt test score voiding

A judge refused to block a decision by a college testing service to invalidate the Advanced Placement scores of hundreds of Orange County high school students amid allegations of cheating and sloppy supervision at the exam site.

The Trabuco Hills High School students, who call themselves Justice for 375, had sought a temporary restraining order to stop the Educational Testing Service from canceling their scores, arguing that the New Jersey nonprofit organization unfairly voided the test scores before conducting even a cursory investigation.

Testing service attorneys voided the scores after learning that students were allowed to talk, consult study aids, send text messages and leave the room in groups when they were tested in May at the Mission Viejo high school. Ten students later admitted cheating, but the service said it was impossible to determine how many others might have taken advantage of the poor proctoring.

-- Christine Hanley