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FCAT security breach at Fort Pierce Westwood invalidates 78 students' tests
From: Erica Absetz <eabsetz () opensecurityfoundation org>
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2013 08:58:42 -0600
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2013/mar/06/fcat-security-breach-at-fort-pierce-westwood-78/ FORT PIERCE — Before the FCAT writing exam was administered on Feb. 26, some of the 78 sophomores at Fort Pierce Westwood High’s Marine and Oceanographic Academy knew what subject they would be asked to pen essays on, according to information released by district officials Wednesday. Superintendent Michael Lannon said staff at the school made a mistake and gave students copies of the writing section of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test a couple of days before they were scheduled to take it. “They put the test out before it should have been. They didn’t do it maliciously,” Lannon said of school staff. “However, they did not follow the procedure and that resulted in a student just turning a page and seeing the prompt.” Because test security was compromised, all 78 students’ tests were invalidated, district officials said. Once they learned of the breach, district officials told the state about it immediately. On Feb. 28, Kathleen Dailey, St. Lucie County School District’s director of assessment and accountability, sent a three-page letter to the Florida Department of Education outlining some of the steps the district took. Dailey wrote in the letter that on Feb. 25 a student reported to her English teacher that students at the marine academy located at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute knew the writing prompt. “We are distressed that this has happened as a result of poorly informed decision-making at our school, and are committed to defining the extent of the breach and to establish safeguards that will be effective in preventing any future security breaches,” Dailey wrote. Parents were notified about the security breach by automated outbound telephone calls and written notification from the school. In a letter sent home to parents Tuesday, Fort Pierce Westwood Principal Mallissa Hamilton wrote the invalidation would “not impact your child’s promotion, graduation, and/or transcript in any way.” High-school students must pass the 10th grade reading FCAT to graduate high school. Students are also required to pass end-of-course exams in math and science but there is no writing test requirement. While Lannon said invalidating the tests didn’t impact students, he said it could impact the school’s grade. For high schools, scores on FCAT and end-of-course exams make up 50 percent of their state issued school grade. “It’s just a case of unfair advantage and to be fair to every other student all around the state we turned ourselves in and said ‘we did this and it’s contrary to the procedures,’” Lannon said. “We’re taking the appropriate internal steps to strengthen our procedures.” In her letter to the state, Dailey wrote the district would “take disciplinary action and issue written warnings for all teachers and administrators involved in this security breach.” _______________________________________________ Dataloss Mailing List (dataloss () datalossdb org) Archived at http://seclists.org/dataloss/ Unsubscribe at http://datalossdb.org/mailing_list Supporters: Risk Based Security (http://www.riskbasedsecurity.com/) Risk Based Security equips organizations with security intelligence, risk management services and on-demand security solutions to establish customized risk-based programs to address information security and compliance challenges.
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- FCAT security breach at Fort Pierce Westwood invalidates 78 students' tests Erica Absetz (Mar 07)