Testing organizations the College Board and NCS Pearson, Inc. have agreed to pay a total of more than $2.85 million to students whose October 2005 SAT tests were scored incorrectly.
The payment was arranged to settle a class-action lawsuit involving the approximately 4,400 students who received low scores as a result of the scoring error. Each student will collect a minimum of $275 and have the ability to apply for a larger sum if they believe their damages are greater than that amount.
Of the 4,411 students affected, 83 had sent their scores to Duke, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag, who is currently on an extended leave of absence, told The Chronicle March 9.
Edna Johnson, a spokeswoman for the College Board, told The New York Times that the settlement will allow the board and the students involved to "put this behind us and focus on the future."
"We deeply regret the inconvenience and the worry that this caused affected students and parents," Johnson said.
Leonard Satterwhite, senior associate director and acting dean of undergraduate admissions, said the score corrections did not impede the evaluation process of Duke applicants affected by the error.
"[The College Board] sent out a list of those folks [affected], so we tagged all of those kids," he said. "We were aware in here that there were incorrect scores, so they were able to update us with the new scores."
Satterwhite said the settlement would reimburse students for the cost of taking the SAT and sending the scores to colleges.
"Students pay lots of money to take tests," he said. "If [an affected student] sent scores to 10 schools and they're all wrong, that causes some disruption. You have to pay about $10.... It's absolutely not free."
Satterwhite added, however, that because the lowered SAT scores had no negative impact on the admissions process, he doesn't know if the $275 or more awarded to each student is "appropriate."
Craig Miller, a freshman, said the aggravation the affected students endured because of the incorrect scores is enough to justify the large monetary settlement.
"I do think they deserved the compensation they got for emotional damages, because emotional damages are a legitimate part of civil lawsuits," said Miller, a member of last year's applicant pool that included the corrected scores.
Freshman Elyse Glover also said the $275 payment made to each student isn't enough to make up for the hours of work that was squandered as a result of the grading mistake.
"I think the money is good, but there is so much time involved in studying for the SAT that just paying them wouldn't be enough," she said.
But SAT scores are not the only factor in the admissions process, Satterwhite said.
"Testing is just one of the variables we look at," he said. "Four hundred points would make a difference, but 30-, 40-points difference, that's not going to make or break a decision."
Satterwhite said he will continue to trust the testing procedures of the College Board when the next batch of applications arrive at the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.
"The College Board has looked at [the problem] and they've assured me that it wont happen again," he said. "Obviously if it happened again, we'll be concerned."
Indeed, Johnson said the College Board has "put in place even more quality control measures" to prevent future testing errors.
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