Test Prep Firm Accidentally Publishes Student Data

An error in the Princeton Review’s website left personal information and standardized test scores for tens of thousands of students exposed on the internet for 7 weeks, the New York Times reports after a rival test-prep firm informed the newspaper. Data on 34,000 students from Sarasota, Fla., and another 74,000 in Fairfax County, Va., were available before the company closed it off.

Other than test scores, the information included birthdays and ethnicities of the students, plus data on learning disabilities. The Review had the student data because the schools had hired it to measure or improve students’ academic performance. The Princeton Review’s COO said the error stemmed from moving to a new internet service provider in June, and had been fixed. (More Princeton Review stories.)