One BHS student snagged by test snafu

One Brainerd High School student has something to celebrate.

The student went through the 2000 graduation ceremony this spring, but did not receive a diploma because of the student's score results on the Minnesota Basic Skills Test

And now he or she has found out that they have passed the test after all. There were also 56 underclassmen who were affected by the incorrect test results.

Thousands of Minnesota students were given incorrect scores on the state's graduation math test and even though they were told they failed they actually had passed the test. The state Department of Children, Families and Learning announced the scoring errors Friday.

There were 336 high school students who should of been graduates of the Class of 2000 in the state who were affected by the results.

Gary Phillips, assistant Brainerd superintendent, said today the BHS student took the test in April and retook it in February and was only one point off from passing. If the tests were correct the student would have worked with a mathematics teacher this fall.

"This is very unfortunate," he said. "But we are dealing with it."

Statewide, around 47,000 students' tests were scored incorrectly. Of the underclassmen in Brainerd there were five eighth-graders, 25 ninth-graders, 15 sophomores and 11 juniors whose scores were tallied up wrong.

This week, school districts will get lists of students affected by the errors, and in the next three weeks letters will go out to all students who took the test. The St. Cloud School District had 1,410 students take the test in February and 645 were scored incorrectly.

Sixteen students took the test in April and all of them were scored wrong.