PSAT scores raised to fix error

Note: The correspondance between Kevin Keegan and the College Board, as well as grammar references can now be found here

The PSAT scores of almost 500,000 students will be increased because of the efforts of an MCPS teacher, according to College Board official Nancy Viggiano. The College Board decided to rescore last year's test after eliminating a flawed question from the writing section.

According to a College Board news release, only scores which improved from the reevaluation were changed.

The rescoring, the first such reevaluation to be conducted on an Educational Testing Service (ETS) test since 1980, is especially important to students vying for recognition from the National Merit Scholarship Program, which uses the PSAT each year to select exceptional students for college recognition and scholarship awards worth thousands of dollars. Students whose scores meet a specific cutoff point, individually determined for each state, are chosen to receive recognition.

All schools that administered the Oct 15, 2002 form of the PSAT received letters with the names of any affected students, along with individual student letters indicating their new writing scores.

A significant number of students who missed the cutoff for National Merit Scholarship recognition by one or two points could possibly meet the requirement after the rescoring; approximately 47 percent of the test-takers answered the flawed question (question ten) wrong, according to Rose Horch, director of test development for ETS. A copy of the flawed question can be found at the end of this article.

The question was discovered by Blake High School journalism teacher Kevin Keegan while he was reviewing the test with a student. Keegan contacted ETS, the company that creates questions for College Board tests, and the question then underwent review by ETS itself as well as by outside consultants.

Keegan argued that, while the accepted answer for question ten was "E," many widely used and well-respected grammar books, including A Writer's Reference by Diana Hacker, supported answer choice "A" as the correct response.

Although ETS also cited grammar books that preferred its answer, Keegan maintained students should not be tested on a rule that even experts disagree on. "If two grammar books conflict over the actual rule, the only fair thing to do is accept two answers," he said.

During Keegan's campaign to get the flawed question recognized, which involved a back-and-forth exchange with ETS consisting of six letters, he outlined four major points of conflict he had with ETS' stance on the question but became frustrated with their responses. "They didn't want to admit that two grammar books said different things," he said.

Keegan is still not satisfied with the results and will write another letter to ETS to protest its decision to eliminate question ten entirely instead of allowing two answers. While the students who answered "E" were allowed to keep their score, "Kids who answered 'A' have never been awarded points for their answer," he said. "[ETS] keeps screwing those who answered 'A.'"

Some Blair students are enthusiastic about the rescoring. Junior Jennie Lee, who scored a 220 on the PSAT, Maryland's cutoff point last year, said the rescoring reduces her fears that she will fall just short of this year's cutoff. "I'm happy they're rescoring because 220 is cutting it too close," she said.

Lee also believes that rescoring was the only fair solution. "I shouldn't be punished for the College Board's mistakes," she said.

The Oct 15 form of the PSAT was not the only one in 2002 to be scored irregularly. A flawed math question was eliminated from the Oct 19 form, and all students' math scores were based on 39 questions instead of the usual 40, according to the College Board website, collegeboard.com (opens in new window).

Flawed Question (Question #10 from the writing skills section of the PSAT)

Directions: If there is an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct and fill in the corresponding oval on your answer sheet. If there is no error, fill in answer oval E.

Toni Morrison's genius enables her to create [ A ]

novels that arise from [ B ] and express [ C ] the injustices

African Americans have endured [ D ]. No Error [ E ]

The intended answer was "E." Keegan argued that "A" is the correct response because "Morrison's" is a possessive and cannot properly be a referent or antecedent to "her."

The College Board argued that "E" was correct because the sentence is idiomatic English and a possessive sometimes is a substitute for a noun.

Because both Keegan and the Board could find grammar books to support their argument, the Board decided to drop the question.

Information compiled from College Board news release.