STAR Testing cheating scandal

It could be one of the most serious standardized testing security breaches in recent memory.

Students at nearly 250 California schools — including several local schools — posted photos on social media websites while they were taking standardized tests.

In most cases the pictures in question were totally harmless a, but photos of actual test questions or answers were also posted by some students, including students from two local schools…

A total of 242 California schools have been flagged by the department of education for possible cheating…including Santa Barbara High and Righetti High School.

Other local schools, Arroyo Grande High school and La Cumbre Junior High were a part of the 16 schools that had students actually post legible test items, which could have given others an advantage.

The issue is considered serious enough that Santa Barbara Superintendent Dave Cash released a statement saying, “It’s disheartening whenever a student makes a poor choice….we can not stress enough to our students that the casual posting of pictures of inappropriate images on social media can have profound personal and professional consequences.”

The test in question is the STAR Test from last spring, and the test results are now flagged with a red warning message saying “Caution should be used when interpreting these results.”

The report will be issued in the next few weeks…and it is possible that some scores could be thrown out as a result of the investigation.

One parent said “I don’t think phones should be allowed in tests because of the access to the internet.”