College Board begins releasing PMHS PSAT scores after testing company withheld them because wrong exam given by district

The College Board started releasing PSAT scores Thursday to Pelham Memorial High School sophomores and juniors following a hold put on their distribution because the wrong test was administered by the school district.

The results were supposed to be distributed Dec. 5-6 by the College Board, which administers the test. In a Thursday email to families, Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Champ said the release would continue “over the next several days.”

As reported, the district gave the Oct. 15 version of the PSAT on Oct. 12, causing the College Board to freeze the release of the grades and seek proof Pelham students hadn’t disclosed the exam contents to students in other districts who sat the test on Oct. 15. Pelham sophomores and juniors had to sign a survey form Monday attesting to whether or not they had talked about the test with people outside the district.

“On behalf of the district, I apologize for the delay and for any additional stress that was caused by this issue,” said Champ in the email. “I know that some parents felt there could have been more transparency in communication, and we want to acknowledge those concerns. To that end, we worked with the College Board, who advised us to refrain from providing additional details until the student survey collection concluded. This was frustrating to us as it was to students and families, but was essential in maintaining the collaborative partnership necessary to get our scores released.”

Champ provided a little more detail than in Monday’s email on how the mistake was made: “To put it plainly, this was an instance of human error. The Oct. 15 version of the exam was mistakenly ordered and used for our Oct. 12 administration.”

The superintendent said “immediate action” has been taken by the district, including “stricter oversight and redundancy on the test-ordering process” and rechecking of tests before they’re given, as well as enhancing pre- and post-administration expectations and procedures with all exam administrators and proctors before testing.