Gilroy High School was one of 242 schools where social media postings occurred during the administration of California’s Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) assessments this year, according to the California Department of Education.
Sixteen of those test-time postings – not including ones from Gilroy High – included test questions or answers, states a press release from the CDE. None of the postings affected school test results, according to the CDE.
According to the report, the majority of the photos involved students posing with the covers of test booklets or with materials that were not legible.
“We take the validity and reliability of our assessments very seriously, and our schools do too, which is why we redoubled our efforts to monitor these postings and alerted school districts when they occurred,” said Deputy Superintendent Deb Sigman, who oversees assessments and accountability issues for CDE. “These postings look to be attempts by students to gain attention among their friends, not an effort to gain an advantage on a test.”
In 2012, there were 216 schools identified with 12 postings that included legible test questions or answers.
The CDE in recent years has taken heightened measures to monitor social media activity during test times.
In addition to more rigorous monitoring, the CDE also conducted random security audits, instructed examiners and STAR coordinators as to the proper protocol, and reinforced the responsibilities of local officials to maintain security of all test material.
If a security breach affects less than 5 percent of the number of students tested, the school is ineligible for academic awards. If the breach affects more than 5 percent of the number of students tested, the school’s Academic Performance Index – the state’s measure of accountability – could be invalidated. The CDE plans to make those determinations on schools that posted test-related images within the next few weeks.
