SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- Some parents of students at Chaparral High School are upset over a mistake that they say could have ruined their kids' chances at getting into college.
Denise Biggane says she came across a science AIMS score on her daughter's transcript when she was checking it over to make sure all her credits were there.
She says her daughter and other students were told the science portion of the test they took two years ago was a pilot test that they were told would not appear on permanent records, and was not a graduation requirement.
More than half the students who took the test failed.
"I just found this so unfair," said Biggane.
She says she made calls for weeks trying to get through the red tape.
"I said, 'But that doesn't make sense, because this year's seniors, the 2010 seniors, aren't supposed to have this on their transcript.' They said, 'well, it's on there now'," Biggane said of her complaint to the Arizona Department of Education.
Biggane went to State Senator Barbara Leff, who helped her sort out the confusion with the Superintendent's office, the Board of Education and the Attorney General.
In the end, Superintendent Tom Horne issued a memo to school districts instructing them not to include the science scores on student transcripts.
"That's what the problem with bureaucracy is," said Leff. "There were so many steps to go through to make everyone end up on the same page, but once that happened, the result was wonderful. The test is off the transcript, and those students will not have to have it on their permanent record."
Horne says the fact that more than half the students tested failed the science portion of the test, highlights a bigger issue in Arizona.
"The low scores I think, do serve the purpose of impressing on our schools that they need to do a better job of teaching science to our kids," said Horne.
Biggane said she also learned a lesson.
"I think it's a wakeup call that we as parents, have to check out everything, because right now, if you send out a transcript, it goes through a docu-file system, so you never get it," she said.
Students are still required to take the science section of the test, but Horne says it is more a test of the schools than the students, and it is not a graduation requirement.
