Goddard MCAS scores declared invalid by the state

I believe you'll be hearing more about this today at School Committee...thus limited comment from me here...
You may have seen on Worcester Magazine or at the Telegram that the 2009 MCAS results from Goddard are being declared invalid by the state. Here's the Commissioner's press release and his letter to the superintendent.

Having proctored the MCAS, I can say that it comes with a test giver's manual that's really clear on what you can and cannot do. Some of the rules are silly (so long as the scrap paper gets turned in, who cares?), but plenty are straightforward. You really can't go around and check what kids are doing and tell them to go back to questions, for example.
This gets squirrelly once you're talking about kids on IEP's. Things kids usually can have on IEP's don't necessarily carry for the MCAS. In some cases (getting more time, having things read to them), they do. At the end of the day, the line is "was this the kid's work?"
If the answer is no, then there's a problem.