Updated: Diamond Bar High Flagged for Social Media Posting During State Testing

Diamond Bar High was included on a list of schools that the California Department of Education sent out related to posting to social media during the recent Standardized Testing and Reporting assessments. 

However, of the 242 schools where social media postings occurred, 16 included test questions or answers, and Diamond Bar High was not among that group, officials said in a news release. 

The postings statewide did not affect school test results, as the majority of posts were of students posing with test booklet covers or materials that were not legible, officials said. This was done in similar numbers in 2012. Of the 216 schools that had postings last year, 12 of them had a student who sent out test questions or answers. 

Jacqueline Brown, Walnut Valley's director of educational programs, said the district abided by the state's new security rules.  In every testing room, a sign was posted warning that no electronic devices were allowed, Brown said, adding that students were instructed to turn cell phones off and secure them in their backpacks. 

"A student decided to sneak a picture of the cover, but nothing was comprised," she said. 

The district did a full investigation and reported the photo to the California Department of Education, she said.

The state has flagged the publicly posted test results for all schools that had a social media posting.

“We take the validity and reliability of our assessments very seriously, and our schools do too, which is why we redoubled our efforts to monitor these postings and alerted school districts when they occurred,” said Deputy Superintendent Deb Sigman, who oversees assessments and accountability issues for CDE.

“These postings look to be attempts by students to gain attention among their friends, not an effort to gain an advantage on a test.”

The state has increased monitoring efforts, as well as conducted random security audits, trained test examiners and coordinators on the proper protocol, and re-emphasized to local officials the importance of the security of all test material, according to officials.

How this will affect districts has not been determined. However, general rules state that if a security breach affects less than 5 percent of the number of tested students, the school is ineligible for academic awards. If it has an impact on more than 5 percent of those tested, the school's Academic Performance Index score, which is how the state measures accountability, could be nullified, officials said. 

The state plans to release its statewide accountability reports in the next few weeks and final decisions on whether schools will be affected will be made at that time, according to authorities.