A quick review by the testing division determined the sample questions were similar enough to the actual test questions to warrant temporarily halting the school's testing.

"It seems there might have been some breaches there," Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said yesterday at a news conference in the Board of Education's meeting room.

This is the first time the DOE has had to investigate any impropriety surrounding the high-stakes test, which is used to determine whether schools are adequately teaching state academic standards and meeting federal No Child Left Behind Act guidelines.

A more careful investigation this week will determine whether the review questions were taken verbatim from a test booklet and if the two pages given to the media were the only ones distributed, Hamamoto said.

The investigation also will determine whether sections of the test were compromised, which would mean the students would have to retake those portions. The DOE has alerted Harcourt Assessment Inc. that new test booklets may be needed. It would take the Texas-based test creator three days to get new tests to Hawai'i. All public schools must complete the 10 days of testing by April 30.

Regardless of what the DOE learns in its investigation, Hamamoto does not want it to blight any achievement at the Wai'anae school, which has appropriately adopted a standards-based curriculum and is expected to show legitimate improvement on the exam.

"Wai'anae Intermediate has been working hard," she said. "It's unfortunate that this happened, but we've caught it and we've stopped the testing to maintain integrity of the test, and I am confident that Wai'anae Intermediate will do well."

While the DOE's policy regarding test security is explicit, Robert McClelland, director of the planning and evaluation office, said the department will look into whether additional security measures are needed.

For instance, rather than having all 10 sections of the test in a single booklet, they could be separated by subject to reduce the possibility of access to the questions.

Increasing the number of materials assigned to each student would be a logistical nightmare, but "at this point, we will review that question again," McClelland said.

Another question will be whether to set stricter guidelines on preparing review materials. The DOE provides schools with sample questions and practice tests to ready students for the assessment, but does not review any additional materials school officials may prepare themselves.

"We approve what is in the book; it's when they go beyond that that we're at a disadvantage," said Selvin Chin-Chance, who oversees the DOE's testing section.

The DOE's policy includes many measures to make sure no one tampers with the tests before they are administered.

The test booklets arrive in sealed cellophane packets that are not opened until shortly before the test. "The test administrator is required to maintain those in a safe location where other staff and students cannot get to them," McClelland said.

Every test booklet must be accounted for and returned to ensure that no copies of the test questions are floating around.

However, the department depends on the integrity and ethics of test administrators and school personnel to guard the booklets. "We rely a great deal on what we say in the security agreement," McClelland said.