Six months after the discovery of perhaps the nation's worst screw-up on student testing, Minnesota school officials this week are launching a new test season with added safeguards they say will prevent a repeat of last year's problem.

Since the scoring error that resulted in nearly 8,000 students being mistakenly flunked on the state math test, the state education department has delayed the launch of a series of new tests, boosted the staffing of its testing section and has added layers of oversight on the release of new test scores.

``The process we put in place will ensure this never happens again,'' said Jessie Montano, assistant commissioner of the state Children, Families and Learning Department. ``It's triple checking. It's repetition, repetition, repetition.''

Making sure the public has confidence in the student tests is crucial.

Just last week, both Gov. Jesse Ventura and President George W. Bush unveiled separate proposals that would greatly expand the amount of testing for school children, but such programs could founder if there are serious questions about the validity of those tests.

That means it won't just be the students who are being tested this year when the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments and the Basic Standards Tests are given. The state system for giving those tests will also be under a microscope.

Some of the changes being instituted are already being felt. For example, high school students this year will not have to take a new series of reading and math tests as previously planned. The tests were to be part of the expanded Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments and test students at a more rigorous level than the current Basic Standards Tests. Students must pass those basic skills tests, which they start taking in the eighth grade, to get their diploma.

Other, less visible changes in the testing procedures will also affect parents and school officials. The release of some test scores this year will be delayed weeks longer than in previous years because of the added scrutiny. Besides having an outside agency -- the University of Minnesota's Office of Educational Accountability -- look over the scores, the state will give schools an early peek at a roster of test results to examine for possible errors.

For students, Tuesday brings the writing portion of the Basic Standards Test. They are the first statewide tests to be administered since the July announcement of the math scoring error, caused by a series of missteps that included a misaligned scoring key.

Next come the Basic Standards Tests in reading and math, which will be given next week. Then, in March, all of the state's third- and fifth-graders in public schools will take the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, which don't necessarily have a passing grade for students but are used to judge the effectiveness of schools and school districts.

By the end of March, about 250,000 school children will have taken at least one of these tests.

Not all of the changes implemented since July can be linked to the test score error, Montano said. Many of them had been previously planned.

The state is also looking at other changes. The education department wants to add Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment tests at the junior- and senior-high levels, and the Legislature will weigh in on the issue during the current session.

Another issue for lawmakers: Do they want to allow the actual tests and test questions to become public after the tests have been taken? That would allow parents and students to know exactly what tripped them up in the tests. But such an open testing policy, which has been adopted in some states, requires additional money because test-makers can't reuse any of the questions in a test.

Other states have had test-score problems, but not to the extent of Minnesota's woes.

``The Minnesota experience should scare people,'' said Shawn Raiter, an attorney representing some of the students suing the state's test provider, NCS Pearson. ``This is the prime example of what happens if people aren't careful. I hope Minnesota learns some lessons and it never happens again.''

While state officials are working to make sure such an error isn't repeated, the coming testing season is prompting a lot of work among the state's teachers and students to make sure students pass the needed tests.

In recent years every school district has created new programs or classes to help students over the Basic Standards Tests hurdle. Some districts, including Forest Lake, offered Saturday morning classes this month in addition to tutoring opportunities during and after school.

Not every student who still needed to pass a Basic Standard Test participated in the extra programs, said Carleen Peterson, the extended-day coordinator at Forest Lake's Area Learning Center. But she said the offering of those classes still sends an important message.

``It's a way to show good faith to the children of your community,'' she said. ``No matter what it takes, we'll help them be successful and we aren't giving up.''

One of the students that attended three of the Saturday morning classes at Forest Lake High School was Lisa Haessly, a senior who still needs to pass the math test.

``I did it for my own good,'' she said. ``I don't want to have to worry about not walking with my class (at graduation) or not getting my diploma.''

Haessly said her biggest test downfall is that she rushes through it too quickly.

``I'm not a good test-taker at all,'' she said. ``But every time I've taken the test I've gotten better and better. I'm more confident. I'm going to pass it.''

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