Middle School Students in Baldwin Park Posted Pictures During Standardized Testing

Jerry D. Holland Middle School is on a list of schools where students posted pictures during the Standardized Testing and Reporting assessments, important indicators of student progress and how well schools are performing.

A middle school in Baldwin Park may be punished because a student posted a picture on a social media site during the 2013 school year STAR testing cycle.

Jerry D. Holland Middle School is on a list of schools where students posted pictures during the Standardized Testing and Reporting assessments, important indicators of student progress and how well schools are performing.

Monitoring by state education officials revealed that 242 schools in California had students that posted on social media sites.

In 16 of those schools, students posted tests where the questions or answers could be read.

None of the 16 were in the Baldwin Park Unified School District, officials reported.

At Holland, only one student made a posting; he took a pic of a test book cover and made a comment about taking the exam, according to Noreen Iwai-Ito, district director of support services.

He was the only one of 11,400 students tested in the BPUSD, officials said.

"When a district becomes aware of a breach of testing due to an alleged posting on social media sites,  an investigation and report must be submitted to CDE," Iwai-Ito told Patch in an email.

"At that time a cautionary flag is posted on the test results for all schools where a posting occurred.

"In the case of Baldwin Park USD, the postings did not include test questions or answers," Iwai-Ito said.

"Immediately upon discovery of the incident, the district coordinator was notified and an investigation was conducted and a full report was submitted to the California Department of Education, Iwai-Ito added.

According to the inquiry conducted by the California Department of Education, none of the postings affected school test results.

As in 2012, when similar numbers of social media postings occurred, the majority involved students posing with the covers of test booklets or with materials that were not legible, CDE officials said.

“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.”

The 242 schools identified this year compares with 216 schools in 2012, officials said.

That year, 12 schools had postings that included legible test questions or answers, compared with the 16 listed this year.

Though the sanctions for accountability have not yet been determined, officials said that in general, if a security breach affects less than 5 percent of the number of students tested, the school is ineligible for academic awards from the CDE, officials said.

If the security breach affected more than 5 percent of the students tested in that school, then that school's Academic Performance Index could be invalidated.

API test scores are used to rank schools in California; the highest rankings -- and most decorated -- are touted and linked to higher property values and more money coming in for student services, equipment and programs.

Low scores and rankings lead to fewer property taxes, less money for education and possible penalties, as well as earning teachers and schools poor reputations.