A lawsuit has been filed against the College Board and a test-scanning company due to the incorrect scoring of 4,000 SAT tests.
The class-action suit, announced on Friday, is being filed by three Minnesota law firms, representing a student who received an unfairly low score, against the College Board and Pearson Educational Measurement.
The lawsuit is intended to represent every student who was affected by the misscoring of last October's exam, except for the about 600 students who received unfairly high scores, said Robert Schaeffer, public education director at FairTest, an organization that works to correct flaws in standardized tests.
Both the College Board and Pearson refused to comment on the matter.
Schaeffer said FairTest has been referring concerned students, including the plaintiff in this case, to law firms that are interested in handling cases concerning the SAT mishap.
"We fully expect there will be more suits filed," he said, adding that there are around half a dozen law firms actively seeking clients wishing to file similar suits.
The Minneapolis-based firm Zimmerman Reed, one of the firms handling the suit, brought a lawsuit against Pearson in 2002 regarding incorrectly scored tests that were required for high-school graduation in Minnesota. The suit settled for $11 million.
According to a statement made on Zimmerman Reed's Web site, "After the lawsuit, Pearson promised to improve their procedures, but with the latest news the question arises whether Pearson made those improvements."
The other two firms involved with the suit are the Saint Paul- based firm Larson King and the Minneapolis-based McSweeney & Fay.
Schaeffer said he cannot predict when or if this suit will be settled, but it will likely be "a long and complex process if the defendant chooses to drag it out."
He added that it could take years to reach a resolution.
Schaeffer said he hopes the lawsuit serves as a wake-up call for both the testing industry and policymakers who place faith in standardized tests.
He added that standardized tests are "flawed tools designed and administered by human beings" and are thus susceptible to errors.
Rachel Kotok, a senior at Brighton High School in Rochester, N.Y., who will be attending the Penn's Nursing School next year, said the lawsuit is not unreasonable considering the weight of the SAT test in college admissions.
"Considering College board could have jeopardized their future, I think it's understandable."
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