VA - Error changes thousands of SOL scores

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More than 5,600 students statewide who originally received a failing mark on the English Standards of Learning test will soon find that they passed.

Testing officials determined that the computer program used to evaluate the writing portion of the test created a more difficult passing standard than last year.

School districts received notification from the Department of Education in late July that the test scores had been recalculated, and that they should issue a new pass/fail list. The recalculation will pass 172 students in Central Virginia who had originally failed the SOL test.

The Virginia Board of Education asked Harcourt Educational Group, the company that develops and evaluates the SOL, to analyze its results after a number of school districts complained of inconsistent scores.

Harcourt found that while no student's right answer was marked as wrong, the test may not have been equal in its level of difficulty to the test given last year.

The company uses a computer program to ensure the same level of difficulty from year to year. One way of doing this is to adjust the cut score, which is the number of questions a student must answer correctly to pass.

Pyle said that in its review, Harcourt found that the version of the program it used this year set the cut score at one question higher than in the past, and that 5,625 students' passing status hung in the balance of that one question.

"We found that by using the older version of the software it brought the results closer to expectations," said Harcourt spokesman Richard Blake.

News Advance

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