CATONSVILLE, Md. — No matter how old you are, you can probably easily remember the relief you felt as a student after finishing a big test. That feeling was short-lived for more than 100 students at Western School of Technology in Catonsville.
After taking hours-long advanced placement exams in May, some students were told in July that the answer sheets they'd filled out had disappeared.
"This is a terrible way to begin the school year."
WMAR-2 News spoke with the father of a rising senior at Western Tech, who took the more than three hour long AP English exam. He asked to remain anonymous.
This was the letter he and dozens of other parents received from Baltimore County Public Schools last month.
BCPS says it thoroughly investigated its AP submission process, including receipts confirming that the boxes of exams were received by the College Board, which runs the AP program. But the College Board says it never received some of them.
"He was very distraught. He just knew, I gotta do this all over again. That was his biggest concern," said the father we interviewed.
The students were given three options by the College Board and had to choose one by August 14:
1) Re-take the test, at no additional cost.
2) Cancel the score. It would be like they never took it. Students would get a refund.
3) Accept a "projected score" calculated by the college board.
For the English exam, for example some of the essays were not lost. Since they make up 55% of the total score, the College Board says it can use those to project a final score between 1 and 5, with 5 being the best.
"They projected him at a 2 out of 5, which doesn't guarantee that - most colleges actually wouldn't accept that. If he earned a 2 out of 5 I would accept it. But not knowing it, and them projecting it and not giving us the actual way of projecting it, I think is a little rough on the kids," the senior's dad told WMAR-2 News' Elizabeth Worthington.
This has happened several times before, most recently in 2023 in Florida and Georgia, as well as in 2019 in Washington.
When more than 100 exams were lost from a school in upstate New York in 2021, Senator Chuck Schumer got involved.He called on UPS to act, and about a month later, the exams were found.
Shipping issues will become a thing of the past for the College Board as it moves to digital exams. That process will start in May 2025. But it doesn't help these Baltimore County students now.
"I think there needs to be some sort of protocol, some sort of handoff, better between the school, the Baltimore County school system or wherever, between them and the College Board to make sure this doesn't happen to any other student in the future."
The deadline for students to make a decision is today. The parent we spoke to asked for a deadline extension but hasn't heard back from the College Board yet.
In a statement to WMAR-2 News, BCPS said:
"On July 23, 2024, our school administration, along with the BCPS Department of Schools, thoroughly investigated our AP submission protocols and procedures, including the packaging and shipment processes, receipts from UPS, and receipts confirming that the College Board received the boxes sent. BCPS has verified that Western Tech followed all procedures set forth by the College Board."
Below is the full statement from a College Board spokesperson:
"Some answer sheets from the Western School of Technology’s 2024 late-testing AP Exam administration were not received by College Board. College Board is working directly with the school and affected students regarding their retesting options. We don’t share specifics of the retesting options to ensure test security and student privacy.
In May 2025, most AP Exams will be moved to College Board's Bluebook digital testing application, eliminating the need for schools and College Board to manage the shipping and handling of test materials. Bluebook is the same platform successfully used for the SAT Suite of Assessments."
