Fort Pierce Westwood High School FCAT writing test scores invalidated due to 'security compromise'

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — FCAT writing scores for 78 10th-graders at a St. Lucie County high school were invalidated after officials said "test security was compromised."

Test security was compromised at Fort Pierce Westwood High School’s Marine and Oceanographic Academy prior to the administration of the writing section of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test on Feb. 26.

Superintendent Michael Lannon told NewsChannel 5 that a student saw the writing prompt before taking the test.

“We have extremely rigorous training and procedural safeguards in place for test security,” Lannon said in the release. “Unfortunately, a breach of security did occur. However, students were not impacted, and our practices are undergoing further review.”

Per state requirements, the district self-reported the breach to the Florida Department of Education, according to the release, which noted, “this action is solely to protect the validity of FCAT Writing test scores, and will not impact the students’ promotion, graduation or transcript in any way.”

Parents were notified by an automated outbound telephone call and written notification from the school, the release states.

Maxim Alter, WPTV contributed to this report.