"Way-off" scores
CNN has the gruesome news: The standardized testing company Harcourt Inc. confesses to scoring errors in the Georgia Stanford Achievement Tests. CNN doesn't provide a lot of information on exactly how many test scores are in error, or what the company plans to do about it. There are no big decisions, such as graduation or admission, related to these scores, so it doesn't appear that test-takers need to be compensated in any way. Errors like this make the news for the same reason that plane crashes draw big headlines - so many tests are given each year without errors that it is legitimate news when the quality control processes fail at a testing company. However, it's more ammunition for the anti-testing crowd, who expect the testing industry to be error-free.