Despite the concerns, Park County School District No. 1 Superintendent Kevin Mitchell said the PAWS results will still be useful for Powell schools in assessing their progress.
“We didn't have too many errors when we administered the test,” Mitchell said. “We'll use the data as always.”
Mitchell said McBride's request was made primarily to protect schools that experienced the problems from federal action for failing to make adequate yearly progress under No Child Left Behind based on flawed results.
“We don't want the feds beating up on a district whose results were affected by the problems with the test,” Mitchell said. “In Powell we can still use the results. We may have done well, and if we gained, we certainly don't want the results thrown out.”
McBride said the U.S. Department of Education has promised to work with the state in evaluating the situation.