Thursday, April 17, 2014

Great Moments In CCSD Education

From the LVRJ: The state’s exhaustive investigation into a Las Vegas elementary school’s booming test scores has found that adults erased students’ incorrect answers and filled in the correct response.
“I have no doubt that… student answer sheets were altered by one or more adults in the system,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Dale Erquiaga on Wednesday, ending a multi-agency investigation in which he personally interviewed staff at Kelly Elementary School, near Lake Mead and Martin Luther King boulevards.
However, the investigation has “not yielded the identity of the individual or group of individuals who changed the answers in 2012,” something that was complicated by a lack of security around the completed tests and other factors at the school.
Altered answers, however, are just the beginning of what the Nevada Department of Education and state attorney general’s office discovered in a two-year probe of the school. The state report criticizes the principal and assistant principal for lying, intimidating staff and breaking state laws regarding testing security.
The state also scolds the Clark County School District for “unsatisfactorily” investigating Kelly in 2012 and not following state laws for investigating such test score irregularities. The district reported “no concerns” of testing irregularities after an associate superintendent asked Kelly’s principal just two questions
Clark County Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky reacted quickly on Wednesday, suspending with pay Principal Patricia Harris and Assistant Principal Steve Niemeier, confirmed district spokeswoman Melinda Malone. Skorkowsky also suspended Andre Denson, a high-ranking district official. Within the district, the suspensions are referred to as “assigned to home.”
Skorkowsky promoted Denson to the superintendent’s cabinet created in August 2013, making Denson chief educational opportunity officer. Skorkowsky demoted Denson two weeks ago for inappropriately influencing a hire, according to school sources, and Denson is now suspended in connection with the Kelly testing situation. Denson was the associate superintendent who cleared Kelly of cheating suspicions in 2012.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/education/investigators-adults-filled-correct-test-answers-las-vegas-school-tests
As a teacher, every year, 2 times a year, every teacher at our school is mandated to attend inservices about proficiency/CRT testing and we are made well aware that if you, as a teacher, helps a student cheat or even makes a mistake that allows a kid to cheat, not only will we be fired, we could also be arrested and prosecuted because it is against the law to help a kid to cheat.
Funny that the administration at the school was suspended and no teachers were.  It certainly is a possibility that teachers helped the kids cheat, just as it is a possibility that the principals cheated as well.
And if you think this is the only cheating going on in CCSD or other malfeasance, you would be be sadly disappointed.

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