And Pearson State Assessment Services, the company that's contracted to administer the tests, is monitoring the Internet for further violations of its security policies - so students should beware, said Dana Smith, director of communications for the CDE.
"All students deserve a fair test, and sharing images of test items or posting words related to test questions creates an unfair environment," she said. "It's the 21st-century equivalent of students passing notes to each other."
Smith said Pearson representatives are looking for breaches by Googling key test words from questions on the new English and math tests developed by PARCC (the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers), which students in Colorado and 11 other states and the District of Columbia now are taking.
"It's a standard practice for ACT and SAT testing, too. The material is copyrighted," she said.
Cellphones are not allowed in the testing session, Smith said, and students are told before they start the tests that sharing test information online is prohibited.
Once a violation is discovered, Pearson notifies the department of education in the state in which the student lives, based on social media profile information.
The education department contacts the local district where the student attends school, and the district asks the student to remove the post and may take disciplinary action.
Pearson also can contact the social media outlet and ask that material related to testing be removed, Smith said.
©2015 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
