A task force, appointed by the New York State education commissioner, John King Jr. is to report next month on ways to improve the integrity of the state's educational testing system. New York has thus far escaped cheating scandals like one that exploded in Atalanta. But troubling new developments have shown weaknesses in New York's testing system that need to be fixed. The annual standardized tests, given in the lower grades and the regents examination that high school student must pass to graduate now play a crucial role in decisions about how schools are rated and how principles are evaluated. In the future, teachers will also be judged, in part, on how students perform on state tests. With the tests counting for more, attempts to tamper with the results of the state test are becoming a problem this year. When it ended the practice of having schools, rescore the regents examines of students, who fell just below the passing level. The intent was who to make sure that students weren't failed by mistake, but an analysis by The Times showed that lots of students were getting the minimum score needed to pass which suggested cheating. The state has ended rescoring by schools, but it permits superintendents to change errors. That change does not cure the far bigger problem. The regents examines are typically scored; in the same school where they are given, often by a student's own teacher. The State Education Department has allowed this practice to go on because the examines ...