Berlin Students Outraged Over Math Test Retake
June 17, 2008
About 3,000 students and parents protested a school administration decision to make all students retake an exam. Students marched in front of Berlin's massive red brick city hall on Monday, June 16, holding signs that called on school officials to let the test results stand.
The administration did not seem to be swayed by the protests or by the threat of legal action from the parents' association.
Invalid for everyone
As of last week, school officials hadn't determined how some of the students had managed to get advance copies of the test. Some students at approximately 60 of the 346 schools got copies of the test in advance, which invalidates the results, school officials decided.
Berlin's education secretary Eckart Schlemm said that all students needed to have the same chance.
"When we know of even one case of advanced publication, the entire exame would have to be repeated," Schlemm said.