LITTLETON, Colo. -- Sixty fourth-grade students from Runyon Elementary school will be receiving zeros on the writing portion of the CSAP, according to the Colorado Department of Education.

Littleton Public School officials said teachers discovered that a test question on the 2008 CSAP was identical to one used for practice testing.

Connie Bouwman, assistant superintendent for Learning Services, told 7NEWS a fourth-grade teacher had committed the question, called a prompt, to memory several years ago. The teacher, who was not identified, used the prompt for student preparation, not realizing it would appear again on a test.

"It was an honest mistake," Bouwman said.

Bouwman explained teachers immediately stopped the testing while officials with the Colorado Department of Education, which governs the administration of the tests, were contacted.

"They directed us to go ahead and take the test but scores would not count," Bouwman said.

Jo O'Brien, assistant commissioner of Standards and Learning for the Colorado Department of Education, said state guidelines are clear.

"If we started to make judgments based on feelings or preferences it would truly, legally, compromise the validity of the test," O'Brien said.

"I'm absolutely astounded by the CDE's ruling on this matter," Runyon Principal David Hilliard said in a newsletter to parents.

The newsletter was one of three different letters sent from the school, according to LPS officials.

"Runyon and District fourth-grade writing scores overall will be negatively impacted," Hilliard explained in the newsletter, obtained by 7NEWS.

Hilliard expressed disappointment in the final decision of the CDE and concluded the letter by writing, "You get a nice 'thanks for being ethical' and a poor School Accountability Report. Sad isn't it?"

Bouwman confirmed the incident would likely result in a lower performance rating for at least one year.

"They've always been a high-(rated) school. This will move them to 'average,' which will be very disappointing," Bouwman said.

Jared Searle, father of a Runyon fourth-grader, told 7NEWS the state's response sends the wrong message to students.

"It is unfortunate that teachers now, with teaching integrity and teaching honesty, are punished for it, and students and punished for it," Searle said.

Other parents said they were supporting Colorado House Bill 1187 which, as originally proposed, would lessen penalties a district receives if students chose to opt out of taking the CSAP.

CSAP stands for Colorado Student Assessment Program. The standardized test is administered to 56,000 Colorado third through 10th graders each year..

The Colorado Department of Education said "misadministrations," as this incident is technically called, are rare -- accounting for less than one tenth of 1 percent.