Students Given Wrong SAT Exam At Greenwich Test Site

GREENWICH, CT — Over 100 students will have to take the SAT again after the wrong test was distributed on exam day at Greenwich High School on Dec. 2.

According to the Greenwich Public Schools District, 114 students completed the SAT that was used in October 2021 — 77 of those students are from GHS. College Board, which administers the test, does not accept previously used exams to protect the integrity of the test, so the results are now null and void.

In a letter to affected GHS families and students on Wednesday night, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Toni Jones said it's unclear how the wrong tests were distributed.

"I have contacted College Board personally to request a deeper dive to understand how this happened. Their response, as of [Wednesday], has not provided a clear understanding," Jones said. "Did College Board send the old tests? Did GHS have an older box of tests sitting in the testing room from 2021? It is very unusual, as every test booklet is issued by number and the issuance is incredibly strict, again, to protect the integrity of the test."

College Board officials noted its instructions indicate unused test materials are supposed to be returned immediately following the test administration.

"Unfortunately, we discovered there was a misadministration at Greenwich High School for the December SAT," a College Board spokesperson told Patch via email Thursday. "Students can take the makeup test on paper this weekend or the digital SAT in March. We understand the frustration of students and parents and apologize for the inconvenience this has caused."

The test will move to a digital platform in the spring.

There also appears to have been a delay of communications in the days after the test was taken, both alerting families about the mishap and about the makeup test that's been scheduled for Dec. 16.

Jones said GPS was notified by College Board on Dec. 8 about the wrong test, but she and GHS Principal Ralph Mayo were not made aware of the situation until late in the day on Tuesday, Dec. 12 when a parent contacted the district about an alert that evening from College Board to impacted families, Jones said.

"When you took the SAT on December 2, 2o23, there was a problem during the administration that prevents us from accurately scoring your test," an email from College Board said. "Unfortunately, this means you'll need to take the test again to get a valid score."

In the email, there are instructions about the makeup test, a student and parent inquiry form and a phone number to call with questions.

"Our students should have been made aware of this issue last Friday when the district was notified, and we apologize for the delay in notification," Jones said in her letter. "While this is a College Board process, we care deeply about our students and we should not have relied upon College Board to message swiftly. We fully understand how stressful this is for our students to be faced with taking the SAT again when they should be winding down for the break."

Thirty-seven students from other schools took the test at GHS on Dec. 2, and could not be reached by Jones's letter, GPS spokesperson Jonathan Supranowitz said.

Melissa Hawks, a parent of a Greenwich Academy junior who took the wrong test earlier this month, told Patch in an email that she found out about the situation after hearing rumors on Dec. 12 and then logging into her daughter Katie's College Board account, where she discovered that Katie was booked for the Dec. 16 retest. There was no other information available in the account, and Hawks did not receive an email, she said.

"We called around to other kids we knew had taken the test the same day and kids have been shocked to learn this. We had other parents log in and see the same thing, that a makeup test had been scheduled in the student's portal with no communication to the families," Hawks said. "If we and a few others hadn't noticed and become aware of this, the kids would have missed the makeup and not known right away that their scores didn't count for the Dec. 2 test."

Jones urged families to check their College Board account "right away" to see if they have been affected. She said students should speak with their counselor if there are conflicts with the Saturday retest, or if the testing situation is causing concerns about the timing for college submissions.

For the Hawks family, the situation has been "frustrating."

Many holiday breaks for private schools begin after classes on Friday, and some families are expected to travel ahead of Christmas and New Year's. Hawks said Katie is likely not able to take the retest on Saturday.

"I’m disappointed with the process and expected better from the College Board as I wasted a potentially good score and a whole day," said Katie. This was the first time she took the standardized test.