State Education Department

Security Over Regents Examinations (Follow-Up Report)

Regents examinations are statewide tests for high school students. High schools are required by the State Education Department to follow certain security-related procedures in their handling of the examination materials (e.g., test booklets and answer keys). To determine whether the schools were complying with these requirements, we visited a representative sample of 235 schools during the January 2007 Regents examination period.

As was described in audit report 2006-S-104, we found that 41 of the 235 schools (17 percent) were not fully complying with the requirements for the storage and unsealing of the examination materials. As a result, the risk of security breaches was increased at these 41 schools. We recommended the State Education Department develop and provide security awareness training for the schools. We also recommended the Department visit the schools more often during Regents examination periods to determine whether examination materials were adequately secured. When we followed up on these matters with Department officials, we found our audit recommendations had been fully implemented.

For a complete copy of Report 2008-F-13 click here.