Associated Press
Friday, July 21, 2006; A02

Steps such as better software and more training -- and even providing pencils and erasers at test centers -- could improve the reliability of scoring the SAT exam, a consultant's report says.

The report, commissioned by the College Board and released yesterday, said the scoring system for the college entrance test has improved since more than 4,000 SAT tests taken last October were given lower scores than they should have been. On the whole, scores are reliable, the report said.

But the report by Booz Allen Hamilton identified risks -- such as scanners affected by debris and misinterpreting erased marks -- and suggested a range of steps, mostly technical, to provide further safeguards. Overall, it painted a picture of a less-than-infallible exam, noting several areas in which current controls fall short.

The College Board and Pearson Educational Measurement, which scores most of the exams, had blamed the October errors on the misreading of marginal marks and on answer sheets that expanded because of humidity. Some of the recommendations would address those problems, including additional anchor marks on the sheets to reveal whether the paper has expanded.

In the long run, the report suggested, the College Board should consider moving the SAT online, something the organization said it has discussed and will consider, though it has security concerns.

The report was delivered to the College Board, which owns the SAT, in late May. The nonprofit did not make the report public, citing litigation on behalf of students whose tests were graded incorrectly. It changed course after receiving a subpoena from Sen. Kenneth P. LaValle, chairman of New York's state Senate Higher Education Committee.

Robert Schaeffer, a College Board critic with the group FairTest, said the report did not provide new insight into what went wrong with the October exams.

"After all the noise and all the promises, they still haven't answered those questions," he said. "It's going to be another arena where they're answered -- presumably the courts."

But College Board spokeswoman Chiara Coletti said the organization had already determined that humidity and problems with marginal marks were to blame.

"We're very pleased with the report, because it does confirm our improvements were effective," she said.