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Mistakes On Translated State Math Exams Add Up
Updated 05/09/2012 07:19 AM
By: Lindsey Christ

NY1 has learned that more errors were discovered on this year's high-stake state exams.

Twenty different mistakes were found in the translated math tests.

In most cases, the errors in translation resulted in questions where there was no right answer. In at least two cases, there was more than one correct answer.

There were errors in every language the state has tests translated into — Korean, Spanish, Chinese, Haitian Creole and Russian — as well as four errors in Braille versions.

This makes 28 questions invalidated on the state tests so far, including several on an infamous passage about a pineapple and a hare.

There was also a question on the fourth grade math test with two correct answers, and a scoring guide error that required sixth grade English exams be re-scored.

In contrast, last year there were no errors in any of the test versions. In 2010 there was just one error, in a Spanish language version of the sixth-grade math test.

The state is using a new test publisher this year, the company Pearson. It is the first year of a $32 million, five-year contract.

A state spokesman said, "Together with Pearson we are reviewing proof reading protocols to improve these outcomes in the 2012-13 test cycle. In every instance where errors were identified they were fully addressed to minimize impact on children."

The state test results are used to determine whether students are promoted to the next grade, the progress report grades for schools, cash bonuses for principals and, starting this year, teacher evaluations.




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