1st-graders in Arkansas retaking standardized tests

The Associated Press

BENTONVILLE — First-grade students in Arkansas public schools are retaking standardized tests they took last spring because of a mistake by the test publisher, officials said.

Arkansas Education Department spokeswoman Julie Thompson said the problem occurred when some students who were scheduled to take a practice version of the test were given the actual test by mistake.

The error came to light when students and teachers noticed during the actual test that they’d seen the material before.

Not all students took the practice test, only those at districts who purchased the practice exam from the test publisher, Pearson.

Thompson said that to be fair, all students had to be tested again, using new tests. The new test was similar but not the same as the one administered the previous year.

The tests being redistributed are not the type that the state will use to determine accreditation, but the schools use the test results to help plan instruction, said Karen Morton, director of data assessment and accountability for the Bentonville School District.

“It’s also taking away instructional time for us to test (the students) again,” she said.

School administrators said they had little choice but to administer the extra test.

“Any human endeavor is subject to mistakes, some small and some not so small,” said Randy Barrett, superintendent for the Gentry School District. “While it cost some extra man hours at our end of the process, the sun has still rose each morning. We’ll wait until we achieve perfection at Gentry Public Schools before we become too critical of others when they make an honest mistake.”

The Gravette School District sent two counselors to training to learn how to administer the new tests, said Roger Sharp, middle school counselor.

“Although students will be losing instructional time during the beginning of the year, a time that is particularly important for training first grade students to the rules and procedures of their respective classes, we are confident that there won’t be any long term ill effects,” he said.