The popular test is used by school systems across the country to measure student performance in basic skills such as reading and math.

In Fulton County, some students have been placed in high-level classes for next year based in part on the now-discredited scores.

Gwinnett County has used the scores to determine the make-up of remedial classes for students who are not fluent in English.

In DeKalb County, at least 200 students were not included in last week's lottery for high-achiever magnet programs because without valid Stanford 9 scores, school officials could not determine whether the students were eligible.

And some districts, like Atlanta, use Stanford 9 in determining bonus money for administrators, teachers and staff. The status of these programs is up in the air.

The Stanford 9 "is not just another test," said Martha Greenway, executive director of planning, research and policy with Fulton County schools. "It's a critical measure of how our students are doing. And we use that to plan for the future."

The testing company that developed the Stanford 9, Harcourt Educational Management, has brought in three testing experts to sort out the mess, at Harcourt's expense. The state paid $690,000 for the tests.

State officals acknowledged it is possible the scores will never be fixed properly.

"We don't know what the problem is," said Mike Harmon, program manager for test administration at the Georgia Department of Education.

"It is incredibly frustrating. And even more frustrating than it is for us here . . . is the frustration for teachers and for parents and for children. They worked so hard and they got these results back and they expected them to be an accurate representation, and we don't believe that it is."

The state requires the Stanford 9 to be given each spring to public school students in grades 3, 5 and 8.

Many local districts like the test because it allows them to compare their students to a national standard.

In June, the state Department of Education decided to make the test optional for districts next school year.

State officials first noticed there was a problem with this year's scores in May. In about one-third of the subject areas, scores went up or down by large margins compared with the year before -- 15-to-24 percentage points in some cases, said Harmon.

These swings conceivably could happen in an individual classroom or school, Harmon said, but not across the entire state. A change of 1 to 3 percentage points is all that should be reasonably expected for a statewide average, he added.

Harcourt checked the tests and found they were scored accurately. No correct answers were marked as incorrect, or vice versa.

The problem appears to be in "equating" the 2002 test with the 2001 test -- that is, making sure they are of the same difficulty level so that scores on the two tests can be compared.

Harcourt spokesman Richard Blake said the company used a commonly accepted equating method, "but in this case it produced anomalous results."

"We are working as hard as we can to get this resolved as quickly as we can," Blake said. "We are sympathetic that these problems, these delays, have caused problems for people. We sure hope that those are minimized and we can get them resolved as quickly as possible."

Some Georgia school officials downplayed the impact, saying they have many other ways of measuring students' abilities, such as the state's curriculum test and the judgment of teachers and principals.

"While we may have the Stanford 9 information later, or if we don't end up getting it at all for this year, teachers will still be working with children," said Abbe Boring, chief academic officer at DeKalb County schools. "That's not going to stop instruction from taking place."

This problem is unique to Georgia, because the test used in 2002 was written especially for the state. The 2001 test used in Georgia was a form used nationally, Blake said.

But other states also have had problems with standardized tests. In 1999, about 8,000 Minnesota high school students were incorrectly told they had failed part of the state's graduation test, including some seniors who were denied graduation.

Last year, a computer error led to incorrect test scores being mailed home to parents of students in Alaska.

And this is not Georgia's first problem with the Stanford 9. Georgia fined Harcourt last year when test scores came in late. Cathy Henson, chairwoman of the state board, has said Harcourt could face more fines for the current snafu.

Critics of standardized tests say Georgia's current problem is yet another reason to de-emphasize testing as a measure of school quality and student achievement.

"This is one more piece of evidence that this country has gone around the bend on testing in a way that is unhealthy for our schools and our children," said Monty Neill, executive director of Massachusetts-based FairTest, an advocacy group.

ajc.com

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2002