Everybody makes mistakes…everybody has those days…

Unfortunately, WS has earned the status of being on testing probation for an infraction that occurred during AP testing last year; however, the incident was not as severe as one might assume.

“A student walked out of the testing room with part of her answer booklet,” said Director of Student Services Jennifer Knox. “The test was viewed as invalid; that was it.”

Because of the incident, albeit an accident, the school is required to report any irregularities to the testing company.

“[College Board and Educational Testing Service] did their investigation. We gave them details and helped them. The student had to come back on a makeup day and do a retake, and that was that,” said Knox.

College Board and ETS have to deal with irregularities such as this one frequently. The company thanked WS for its assistance with the matter.

“Your school provided vital assistance to resolve this matter and your school was willing to retest the student,” said College Board in a message to WS.

The matter was resolved quickly and quietly. Irregularities happen with testing all the time, and simply needs to be dealt with properly right away.

“The student was exhausted and simply wasn’t thinking. No one thinks there was any malicious intent. The proctor immediately found her and got [the answer book] back. We just have to be careful and call it an irregularity and report it, and let the testing people decide how serious it is. It’s in our school’s best interest to be vigilant with testing procedures,” said Knox.

Due to this incident, there might have been a bit of concern about how future tests would go, however, the PSAT that was administered on October 16 went smoothly.

“I think the PSAT served as evidence that we can do it,” said Knox.

Although the incident was not ideal, it did provide some important lessons for teachers and students at WS to keep in mind in the future.

“Despite the fact that we feel like we’re tested and tested and tested and know what we’re doing, it’s still important to make sure to follow all of the instructions before and after, even if you’re exhausted,” said Knox.

It is a goal of WS for upcoming tests to make sure teachers really emphasize the testing instructions to students to ensure that we don’t have more irregularities. If one does occur, however, the school will be prepared to deal with it.

“You’re not ever going to have no irregularities. It’s just not going to happen,” said Knox.