Glitch effects school scores

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) : One Thread

Wednesday, January 26, 2000

Capo Unified scores still up in the air Because of a computer glitch, rankings for 40 schools might be a month away.

By REBECCA HARRIS

The Capistrano Unified School District's rankings in the new statewide Academic Performance Index aren't available for public viewing and might not be for some time. The numbers for 40 schools were pulled after a district computer software error skewed scores, officials said. The process will have to be repeated and resubmitted using new software, and district officials do not know how long that will take. All California schools were ranked based on student performance on the Stanford 9 test, with more factors to be added in the future. The index is part of Gov. Gray Davis' education accountability program passed by the state Legislature last spring. The district used the SASI software system to compile student information. A software glitch wrongly labeled about half of the district's 43,000 students as newcomers, making their scores ineligible based on state guidelines. Officials only noticed an error when the scores released by the state Department of Education last week seemed much lower than the Stanford 9 averages, said Jeff Bristow, the district's director of assessment. So district officials decided to pull the scores from Tuesday's list posted on the state Department of Education's Web site. "There was an error and we don't want to publish the incorrect scores," said Jane Periolat, communications coordinator for the Orange County Department of Education. The district staff has reconfigured the information using the EASI software system and is ready to resubmit the file, Bristow said. But corrections could take at least a month to process. The longest part of the process will be turning in the district's information and having the analysis done, said Paula Wenzl, an education consultant for the state Department of Education. Posting the correct rankings will take only a few days after the state receives information from Harcourt, the company analyzing the scores, Wenzl added. Capistrano Unified was the only Orange County district to experience the problem, Wenzl said.

http://www.latimes.com/communities/news/irvine_metro/20000126/tmv0001654.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 01, 2000


Moderation questions? read the FAQ