Glitch in AIMS results leaves seniors waiting
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 17, 2005
Carrie Watters
GLENDALE - Hundreds of Glendale Union High School District seniors, eager to see whether they had passed the October round of state testing, had to leave for winter break Thursday without answers.

That's because the results from testing company CTB/ McGraw-Hill didn't arrive until Wednesday and because a day later, educators were notified that a portion of the results was inaccurate.

Educators in every district in the state were told to toss computer disks of results because of a technical glitch, Kelley Carpenter, a public-relations staff member at McGraw-Hill, said Friday. The districts do have accurate written results, she said.

Without electronic results, assistant principals in the Glendale district are being asked to give up some of their holiday break to number-crunch the written reports.

"You're doing the analysis the old-fashioned way, with a Number 2 pencil and a yellow pad," a frustrated Assistant Superintendent Warren Jacobson said.

He's also frustrated that parents and students will have to wait for results until school reopens Jan. 2.

Students who didn't pass will be placed in remediation classes to get them prepped for their next shot at passing in February and March.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said the snafu wasn't a big deal because district officials can access the information online and request an accurate disk as early as next week. Horne expects to publish statewide figures on the fall test Wednesday.

This article appears in certain Community editions of The Arizona Republic.