PORTLAND – State education officials have scrapped the results of Maine’s eighth-grade writing test after 78 percent of students failed to meet state standards.

The one-question test for 2007-08 was administered in March to nearly 15,000 students, who were required to write a persuasive essay.

Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said the test was somehow flawed and triggered false results, although officials say they were unable to pinpoint exactly why so many students failed to meet the mark.

In a rare move, the Department of Education withheld the test results when it released the latest Maine Educational Assessment scores in July. The Maine Sunday Telegram obtained the writing results from the department after filing a request under the state’s Freedom of Access Act.

“It is our responsibility to ensure the validity of test data,” Gendron said. “It would be irresponsible for us to release data if that performance is based on a question that was unreliable.”

The 45- to 70-minute test asked students to support or refute the following statement, known as a prompt: “Television may have a negative impact on learning.”

The instructions listed 20 writing skills students should demonstrate. The test included two lists of facts, pro and con, to use in the essay.

“Kids got ticked off at the [question],” Gendron said. “In many cases, it was an emotional response rather than the intellectual exercise we were seeking, so it was not an accurate reflection of their writing skills.”

Less than 23 percent of eighth-graders met or exceeded writing standards, down from 48 percent when the writing test was first administered as part of the Maine Educational Assessment in 2006-2007, according to Measured Progress, the state’s testing consultant based in Dover, N.H.

The decision to pull the test came as a surprise to Tom Lafavore, director of educational planning in Portland Public Schools, who said he was glad that the state didn’t release the individual results to districts and students.

“There just aren’t that many kids in the state who would perform below standard if the test were valid,” he said.