WASHINGTON – School administrators were stunned yesterday by the revelation from the College Board that an additional 27,000 SAT tests from the October exam had not been rescanned for errors.

The announcement was the third admission in two weeks by the testing organization of potential errors and underreported scores in the college entrance exam used by thousands of schools. A spokesman for the New Yorkbased company said that the largest error was a discrepancy of 450 points out of a potential 2,400. The total number of students who will have higher scores resubmitted is 4,411.

“It’s incomprehensible to me that there have been three separate discoveries of scoring errors on the same exam,” said Gary Ross, dean of admissions for Colgate University, which was informed that it had received 57 erroneous scores. The College Board reports only the scores that were erroneously lowered – not scores that were mistakenly raised.

“It’s a disgrace that upon discovery of the first series of scoring errors the College Board was not able to get to the bottom of the problem,” Ross said. “They owe all of us a detailed explanation of what went wrong and how they are going to avoid these kinds of mishaps in the future.”

Lee Stetson, admissions dean for the University of Pennsylvania, which had 103 affected applicants, said he was “disappointed” in the way the errors were dribbled out. “It makes us very unsettled.”

Jennifer Topiel, executive director of communications and public affairs at the College Board, which administers the test, said yesterday that “nothing like this has ever happened before, and we are going to ensure this does not happened again.”

“We are 106 years old and have a long history of excellence,” she said.

The College Board announced Wednesday on its Web site that it will implement new policies along with its scoring subcontractor, Pearson Educational Measurement. In the future each answer sheet will be scored twice, and steps will be taken to ensure that answer sheets are protected from humidity. In addition, Booz Allen Hamilton has been hired to review scanning procedures, and will provide recommendations within 90 days.

Two weeks ago, the College Board disclosed that of the half-million students who took the October SATs, 4,000 had scores that were higher than originally reported. A week later, it reported that another 1,600 sheets had not been rescanned. And then this week, it reported that an additional 27,000 of the October tests were not rechecked, notifying schools and affected students.

“It’s the latest installment of a soap opera, and it makes you wonder what’s coming next,” said Robert Schaeffer of FairTest, which is critical of schools’ reliance on standardized testing. He said he would lobby Congress for hearings. “There’s less regulation over these tests than over what you feed your pets,” he said. “This demonstrates how much human error is involved in making high-stakes education decisions.”

The timing is terrible, several admissions directors said. At the University of Virginia, Dean of Admissions John Blackburn found out yesterday morning that 12 more applicants had incorrect scores. So officials will pull out their files just as they did for 66 other applicants, look at the numbers, and see if they need to reconsider. So far, he said, the news has not changed any of their admissions decisions. “SATs are just one factor we consider,” he said.

Blackburn said he has never seen a problem like this, in nearly 40 years in admissions. “This group has tested millions of people … they’re amazingly consistent. Every once in a while the score sheets got some humidity, rippled, so the scanner didn’t pick it up.”

At Georgetown University, 15,000 admissions decisions letters get mailed Friday. Officials reviewed 93 applications because of incorrect scores. One was wrong by a significant 200 points, but most were in the 10-to-30-point range, said Charles Deacon, the dean of undergraduate admissions. “The concern many of us have is they only adjusted scores that went up – not the scores that went down. That’s the most troubling part,” he said, articulating a concern of many administrators that there could be students with inflated scores who got slots other applicants deserved.