July 11, 2008

Students and Parents in California Protest After AP Test Scores Are Canceled

A group of high-school students and parents in Orange County, California, are protesting the cancellation of the students’ Advanced Placement test scores due to allegations of cheating and mismanagement, the Los Angeles Times reported today.

The scores of 385 students at Trabuco Hills High School were nullified.

Some proctors were seen sleeping, reading, or leaving the room during the exams, students have said. Ten students later admitted that they had cheated on two of the tests using text messages. Students are not allowed to use cellphones during the exams.

The group, which calls itself Justice for 375, is pressuring the College Board and the Educational Testing Service to reinstate the other students’ scores.

The Educational Testing Service, which administers AP exams for the College Board, has refused to consider letting the students use their original scores. A spokesman for the service told the Times that if the only problem had been cheating, the innocent students’ scores could have been used, but irregularities at the testing site made that impossible.

The students will be given an opportunity to retake the tests on August 11. Both students and parents have complained that retaking the exams will be difficult, as students will have to get their textbooks back and may have time conflicts with the new test date. —Beckie Supiano

Comments

1. Fire the school staff who neglected their duties and count the scores. Those students should not be made to pay for some idiot proctors’ mistakes.

   — R2D2    Jul 11, 01:21 PM    #

2. But neither should they get credit for learning that can’t be verified! Fire the staff and offer a free make-up with refund of all original fees.

   Although I increasingly doubt the validity of any measures supplied by ETS!

   — hippokleides    Jul 11, 03:40 PM    #

3. So maybe the parents should get all of the teachers/proctors fired. This is not a College Board caused problem.

   — Lori    Jul 11, 03:42 PM    #

4. Sorry, but I agree that all the scores should be cancelled. Let the students take their anger out on the cheaters, not the lax supervisors or the test board. I bet they all know who the cheaters are. Maybe if cheating were taken seriously – and punished – at the high school level we would not have to deal with so much of it when these students get to college.

   — angustias    Jul 11, 03:43 PM    #

5. My child shouldn’t have to re-take a test for which she studied hard. And we have non-refundable plane tickets for a vacation in Bali that will prevent my baby from being present for the re-take. Thanks a lot, Trabuco Hills!

   — Neal Jung    Jul 11, 03:45 PM    #

6. I agree with Angustias. Let’s stop blaming everyone such as school, testing company, proctors—- and blame the real culprits: the cheaters! What ever happened to individual responsibility and integrity? Do I get to do anything I want as long as I don’t get caught? Mr. Jung, submit a bill for the Bali tickets to the students who cheated and their parents…good luck!

   — Rich    Jul 11, 04:43 PM    #

7. Let’s see. Cell phones weren’t allowed. Text messages were used to share answers. Couldn’t the proctors have stayed awake long enough to get the phones before the exams were administered?

   The text taking context is as important as the substance and yet the College Board takes no responsibility for students who did not cheat and who have no control over the context. The Board’s decision to deny scores to honest students is more reprehensible than is the cheating of ten students. The Board is just ignoring the failure of their product and convicting many of the crimes of a few without due process.

   When are we going to hold the testing companies reponsible for their decisions and for the rights of students essentially penalized without the right to confront their accusers?

   — Dr. Kneedle    Jul 11, 04:57 PM    #

8. I think that the College Board is more than generous to offer a make up test. Unfortunately, there is no way to determine who cheated and who didn’t. The fault lies in the laps of the administration who hired incompetent proctors who had the temerity to shirk their duties, knowing that the administration was too lax. I taught AP English from 1976-1997. The oversight of proctors was stringent, so I know that it is possible to have tight security.

   — Julie    Jul 11, 05:01 PM    #

9. To #5: Are you a real poster, mentioning that a posh vacation is at stake, and referring to someone in her late teens as a child and your baby? Or is this a sarcastic posting, with someone trying to make the parents sound bad?

   If it is a serious post… although I certainly sympathize with having to take the exam twice, I can’t help but point out that, in college (and the Olympics, and generally in life) you don’t earn a score by studying for an exam, or by taking an exam, but by showing that you can perform at a certain level at the conclusion of the exam. Since the evidence at the end is not reliable, your student hasn’t yet shown her performance. The only instance when a college or university should be awarding scores or degrees for what someone MIGHT have done is posthumous degrees, and most institutions have guidelines to even limit that to cases where a student was close to completing.

   The College Board should offer the re-test for free and try to accommodate schedules, but the students need to retake the test.

   — HIED doc    Jul 11, 06:23 PM    #

10. After reading this article and the LATimes link, I will keep my mouth shut until I find out (if ever)
    (1) who saw the proctors?
    (2) why did the ten confess – what was different about their situations?
    (3) did any student reveal a peer’s cheating?
    (4) who is responsible for the proctors – the school or ETS?
    (5) Why August 11?
    etc., etc., etc…

    — princeton67    Jul 11, 08:19 PM    #

11. At any rate, this really isn’t newsworthy. The parents have no legs to stand on. The test conditions and final scores are what count. A student that scores a 4 or 5— I would guess, having taken 4 of the AP exams and scored two 5’s and two 4’s— if re-taking those exams would likely get the same scores anyhow. So get to it kids!

    — Legend    Jul 12, 02:23 AM    #

12. If there was cheating involved, all scores should be nullified because there is no way to verify exactly who was cheating due to lax supervision. Financial aid and scholarships may be awarded based (not solely) on these scores. These tests are scheduled every few weeks, go sign up for another test date (should be free though).

    — Eric    Jul 13, 10:45 AM    #

13. As a recent high school graduate and former AP student, I am still waiting for my scores to arrive. I have the potential of receiving an entire year of college credit off of the tests I took this last year, and in years past (30 credit hours). It is evident that some posters do not really understand AP testing. Not only are these tests not “scheduled every few weeks,” they are also not designed to study aptitude as much as knowledge of a subject. If colleges wanted aptitude, they should look no farther than the ACT or SAT. Students spend an entire year in a college-level class, complete with comprehensive finals, competitive curves, and rigorous study. Asking a student to “perform” again on August 11th is like requesting someone take a comprehensive final over an entire year after 12 weeks of no instruction. Any AP teacher or student will tell you that the last month of preparation is the most crucial. It would be my guess that the former AP teacher who posted that the College Board is being “generous” with this new test date must be forgetting how badly these scores are going to reflect on the AP teachers. I’m sure she would be upset if this was a class for which she was responsible. It’s a bad situation – and it is understandable that scores cannot be graded (everyone taking/administering the test is aware that if violations occur, tests are nullified). The offer to retest is a complicated “luxury” I don’t think many students would want to take. There should be an opporunity to either retake or get a full refund. I know I’d want my $86 back after that fiasco.

    — Elaine    Jul 14, 11:28 AM    #

14. Elaine #13

    Nicely stated —- However, do feel that the penalities for ETS, should be more than those stated. They give the tests and as such are responsible —- they should be required to refund all fees —- and offer a free alternate test taking option to all those who want to retake the test.

    — zahid    Jul 14, 01:24 PM    #

15. Elaine knows what she’s talking about. AP tests are not something that can be taken after a few weeks of study, it takes alot more time to do it.

    I believe they have already offered a free re-take but students would have very little time to study and also without an instructor making it even harder to study for the test. Just my thoughts.

    — Kevin    Jul 17, 04:10 PM    #

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