By Nathan Duke
An estimated 200 Bayside High School students will be forced to retake their Advanced Placement tests after the organization that administers the tests questioned their seating arrangement, the school’s principal said.
The Educational Testing Service, which acts as the testing arm of the College Board AP program, informed the high school that 200 of the 700 students who had taken the tests in May would have to take them again, Principal Michael Athy said. The testing service had not been satisfied with the seating arrangements used for some of the AP exams, he said.
ETS could not be reached for comment and it was unclear how the testing service became aware of the seating arrangement at the school.
But Athy said the school had not changed its seating policies, which had been the same for years. The students were notified by mail and telephone that they would have to retake the test and the high school’s teachers have volunteered to give refresher courses this summer, the principal said.
The school’s students will have the option to take the test during summer dates that are being negotiated with the testing service or receive a refund and retake the exam next May.
The scores of students who have taken AP tests during other recent months have not been affected, Athy said.
But Frank Skala, a member of Community Board 11 and a former teacher at the neighborhood’s IS 25, said he did not think the Educational Testing Service was being fair. A number of the students are likely on vacation during the summer or working part-time jobs away from home, he said.
“The goal here would be to tell the kids that they passed the test and would not have to take it over,” he said. “If someone else made the mistake, don’t punish the kids. This is not fair to the students.”
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at nduke@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
