Mass. Invalidates Test Results At Somerset School

State education officials have invalidated last year's MCAS math test results at a Somerset elementary school after determining that an unusually high number of wrong answers had been changed to correct ones.

Results for the English language arts and science portions of the test at Wilbur Elementary School are still being scrutinized.

According to a letter from state education Commissioner Mitchell Chester read at Monday's school committee meeting, the investigation found a "decidedly higher number of erasures than the state average" on answer booklets.

The Herald News reports that the state also found a "disturbing pattern" of answers to open-response questions in which students' original responses were erased and replaced with correct answers.

Somerset Superintendent Richard Medieros says there haven't been any indications that staff members did anything wrong.

"We're cooperating fully with the department throughout the investigation and we're committed to ensuring that every school in Somerset adheres to the regulations," Medieros said.

The state will send staff to monitor MCAS tests at Wilbur in May.

With reporting from The Associated Press and the WBUR Newsroom.

More: