Educational Testing Service

The company that administers the SAT exam announced Thursday that it was throwing out the scores of several Granada Hills Charter High School students who managed to see copies of the test the day before they took it earlier this month. But the Educational Testing Service said there was no need for a wider cancellation, suggesting that investigators were confident that any stolen tests had not been widely distributed. The testing service had previously said that it was investigating a security breach in the exam and was unsure how far it extended.

Nobody has yet used the "c" word — cheating — to describe the imbroglio that has scrambled the testing schedule at Chatsworth High this month. But another "c" word — confusion — has forestalled end-of-the-year revelry for dozens of hardworking students, who will have to retake or reschedule a series of Advanced Placement exams. The official statement from Los Angeles Unified about the testing problems blames "an irregular pattern in conducting" an AP psychology exam last week.

An arbitrator has ruled that the Educational Testing Service lacked substantial evidence when it invalidated the college entrance test score of USC football recruit Ken Haslip Jr. Haslip, a defensive back and wide receiver who sat out his freshman year without playing, reacted with delight after learning of the decision that ended a year-long ordeal. News of the ruling came as the Trojans prepared for their first day of football practice. Haslip plans to be there.

Because nearly half of all students who start doctoral programs don't finish, educators have long wondered how best to judge applicants to graduate schools and reduce that attrition rate. Is there a way to evaluate a student's drive, persistence, honesty and creativity? What is needed beyond college grades, test scores and traditional recommendation letters? The Educational Testing Service says it has just the thing.

USC, on the verge of reviving its storied football tradition under Coach John Robinson, is encountering some new academic embarrassments. In the past year, three top Trojan recruits have been accused, in effect, of cheating on their college entrance examinations. A fourth recruit was accused in 1993 but, unlike the others, he was disqualified before he could matriculate.

Just a few weeks after suspending its computerized version of graduate school admission tests, the Educational Testing Service has filed a federal lawsuit against the company that revealed the program's vulnerability to cheating.

Because nearly half of all students who start doctoral programs don't finish, educators have long wondered how best to judge applicants to graduate schools and reduce that attrition rate. Is there a way to evaluate a student's drive, persistence, honesty and creativity? What is needed beyond college grades, test scores and traditional recommendation letters? The Educational Testing Service says it has just the thing.

The Educational Testing Service announced Wednesday that it will discontinue flagging the results of disabled students who received extra time or other special accommodations on standardized tests widely used by colleges and graduate schools.

Calling themselves Justice for 375, a group of Orange County parents and students says it's ready to fight a decision to cancel the high schoolers' Advanced Placement test scores amid allegations of numerous testing violations at the school. They gathered at a Rancho Santa Margarita park Wednesday evening to protest actions by the College Board and the Educational Testing Service to invalidate the scores of 690 college-level exams taken in May by hundreds of Trabuco Hills High School students.

A top Education Department official has accused the Educational Testing Service of making "misleading, oversimplified and speculative" claims about the impact of bilingual education on children's reading. In unusually blunt correspondence, Chester E. Finn Jr., the assistant secretary for educational research and improvement, charged that the testing service's government-financed study was seriously flawed and verged "on the irresponsible."

The company that administers the SAT exam announced Thursday that it was throwing out the scores of several Granada Hills Charter High School students who managed to see copies of the test the day before they took it earlier this month. But the Educational Testing Service said there was no need for a wider cancellation, suggesting that investigators were confident that any stolen tests had not been widely distributed. The testing service had previously said that it was investigating a security breach in the exam and was unsure how far it extended.

Re "Trouble at Trabuco," editorial, July 25 The Advanced Placement students who had their test scores discarded despite no evidence of cheating tried repeatedly to get the Educational Testing Service to grade their tests and count their scores. When the ETS refused to consider the students' request, they had no choice but to file a lawsuit. This is not about "whininess" as The Times editorial stated, but about justice. With the start of school less than a month away, students have no choice but to sign up for classes they otherwise may have been exempt from had their test scores counted.

A lawsuit by south Orange County students who don't want to retake their Advanced Placement exams smacks more of whininess than a search for justice. We're sure there were many students at Trabuco Hills High School who didn't cheat on their tests, just as we know for certain that some students did. But the circus atmosphere as the school administered AP tests to nearly 400 students means that the Educational Testing Service cannot reasonably determine the validity of the scores. The ETS, which operates the AP program of college-level classes taught at high schools, describes a chaotic scene of adult irresponsibility at Trabuco Hills that flouted numerous rules of high-stakes testing.

Legal wrangling over a decision to throw out the scores of 690 Advanced Placement exams taken at Trabuco Hills High School increased Wednesday when the Department of Education appealed to national test administrators to reverse their action. The College Board and the Educational Testing Service, which administers AP exams for the board, "breached their contractual obligation to the Saddleback Valley Unified School District and the students from Trabuco Hills High School who participated in the AP testing" when they failed to conduct an adequate investigation to determine if test security breaches were widespread, Ronald D. Wenkart, county education department general counsel, wrote in a letter to the testing service.

Calling themselves Justice for 375, a group of Orange County parents and students says it's ready to fight a decision to cancel the high schoolers' Advanced Placement test scores amid allegations of numerous testing violations at the school. They gathered at a Rancho Santa Margarita park Wednesday evening to protest actions by the College Board and the Educational Testing Service to invalidate the scores of 690 college-level exams taken in May by hundreds of Trabuco Hills High School students.

Despite many criticisms, parents and educators would rather mend than end the federal No Child Left Behind law, which requires all children to be academically "proficient" by 2014. The public at large also expressed interest in national education standards, according to a survey released Tuesday.

Surviving two protests by a rival, Educational Testing Service has won a bid to develop and administer California's high school exit exam. ETS' $50-million bid beat that of American Institutes for Research, which developed the pilot test that was given to ninth-graders in March and May. In May, ETS, known for administering the SAT, was named the winner, but a protest by American Institutes prompted the California Department of Education to put the program out to bid again.

In a rare victory against the Educational Testing Service, a teen-ager accused of cheating the second time he took his Scholastic Aptitude Test won a court fight Monday when a judge ordered that his improved scores from that test be given to colleges. State Supreme Court Justice William Friedmann ruled that ETS engaged in "an exercise in form over substance" in handling 18-year-old Brian Dalton's assertions that he did not cheat. ETS said it will appeal the decision.

The California Board of Education on Thursday selected the Educational Testing Service to continue administering the state's mammoth testing program. The New Jersey-based ETS, which for three years has produced and distributed exams taken annually by nearly 5 million California students, would continue its work through the 2008-09 school year under the plan. The company tentatively pegged the cost at nearly $170 million, although the final price still needs to be negotiated.

Surviving two protests by a rival, Educational Testing Service has won a bid to develop and administer California's high school exit exam. ETS' $50-million bid beat that of American Institutes for Research, which developed the pilot test that was given to ninth-graders in March and May. In May, ETS, known for administering the SAT, was named the winner, but a protest by American Institutes prompted the California Department of Education to put the program out to bid again.