Prompted by a few highly publicized instances of widespread cheating on standardized tests in other parts of the country, the state Department of Education on Aug. 18 voluntarily offered up its own testing policies via a press release that outlines the state’s safeguards against cheating on standardized tests.
But ironically, the same day the DOE communication department stepped up its PR efforts, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education took a vote that could set a vain precedent for districts trying to circumvent the state’s tough sanctions for cheating on standardized tests.
The Aug. 18 BESE meeting agenda reveals that “testing irregularities” occurred at three high schools in Calcasieu Parish during the spring 2011 Graduation Exit Exam, one of three annual tests the state labels a “high-stakes” test. The exit exam, as well as the fourth and eighth grade LEAP tests, are considered high-stakes because students must pass them to advance a grade level or graduate from high school. The state’s iLeap tests administered to third, fifth, sixth and seventh graders statewide measure student progress but do not determine whether a student can move on to the next grade level.
If any scores are obtained by cheating, which DOE defines as either administrative error, erasure analysis or plagiarism, the test scores are automatically voided and the scores are replaced by zeroes. Students are allowed to retest for high-stakes exams, but the state still places zeroes in the students’ test scores when evaluating school performance every year.
BESE, on Aug. 18, was tasked with deciding whether to grant Calcasieu Parish a waiver on the voided scores and allow the school district to use the retest scores instead. Despite a recommendation from DOE to deny the waiver request, BESE voted to grant the waiver, says District 7 BESE member Dale Bayard, who represents Calcasieu and most of Southwest Louisiana, Lafayette included.
“This is by far the largest [cheating] issue we’ve ever dealt with,” Bayard says.
The cheating in Calcasieu Parish was so widespread, Bayard says, that 600 students’ test scores were voided, thus having a detrimental impact on overall performance scores in the district.
Bayard declined to give specifics on the cheating that occurred but says bad decisions by a handful of school administrators were to blame. The cheating was discovered thanks to one student who reported the irregularities to the district, resulting in retesting for the hundreds of students that cost Calcasieu Parish an additional $91,000. The school employees responsible for the testing irregularities have since been terminated, Bayard says.
“The crux of the consideration began because it affected 600 children, and it was due to a couple of culprits,” Bayard explains. “The department admitted we needed to revisit the policy. To me it was a severe penalty for just a small number of people. I didn’t expect it to pass; we had never done it before because waiver issues usually involve four or five children. Every district has to have the opportunity to be treated fairly when something like this happens.”
Out of the tough vote BESE cast will eventually come a new policy to deal with the unprecedented number of students affected in Calcasieu Parish, Bayard says. But rumor has it that DOE was correct in its prediction that other school districts would request similar waivers for cheaters. DOE spokeswoman Rene Greer did not respond to questions about other waiver reqeuests by press time Tuesday morning, but sources close to BESE say calls have already started coming in regarding cheating waivers from other school districts, particularly from the DOE’s Recovery School District, which oversees academically failed schools across the state.
MAY 23 Here's a story in the Picayune about some statistics that must come as a blow to folks who believe that any private school can do a better job of educating kids than any public school: Danielle Dreilinger reports that only 30 percent of the voucher kids are passing. That's less than half of the state wide average, she says. It's an interesting statistic because most of the schools (if not all) taking voucher kids have never had their students' standardized test scores released to the public before.
MAY 23 Stephen Sabludowsky blogs on Bayou Buzz about auditor requests here. Recently the state GOP started crowing about a request from the Legislative Auditor, claiming they were being targeted because of their anti-tax stance. (Uh, your what?) Denial and hyperbole aside, the state Democratic party blew holes in that theory with an email announcing they'd received the same request, Sabludowsky writes here.
MAY 23 Jim Brown blogs about the senate race in this post. He says that, given Bobby Jindal's "lack of traction" on the national stage, it might make more sense for the governor to consider running against Mary Landrieu for the senate seat. Since Tim Teeple left the Cassidy team, it makes sense he might land on a Jindal for Senate team, Brown opines.
MAY 23 In this Louisiana Voice post, blogger Tom Aswell writes of rumors that his nemesis, state Superintendent of Education John White, may be soon departing Louisiana for a federal post. It's hard to believe, given his performance, Aswell says, but stranger things have happened. An anti-White BESE member says that, if true, White is quitting before he can be fired.
MAY 23 In this post on American Zombie, blogger Jason Berry writes about the Mother's Day shooting. Mayor Landrieu said that "this is not who we are," but the fact is, this is New Orleans, Berry writes. The violence infused in the city is the result of a culture created by "sins of omission or sins of commission," Berry writes. It's not a problem that can be solved by legislating, policing, praying or publicizing, he says: Someone's got to understand what's happening first.
MAY 23 This post in the Westside Journal tells us what Port Allen Mayor Deedy has been up to lately: vetoing ordinances, apparently. This story is most interesting, however, when it delves into a petition that has been circulating around the city lately. It accuses the former mayor of a lot of nasty things; the former mayor says it is full of lies and "broken syntax" which may be a larger offense in his eyes.
MAY 23 This editorial posted in The Advocate is a bit confusing. The writing is poor - definitely not up to the usual editorial writing standard there - and the point is hard to grasp. Apparently, the writer is saying that privatization of state efforts is OK, as long as there is oversight and transparency, but Jindal's not good at that, and the legislature shouldn't over-react. Okey Dokey. Can't they get one of them Pulitzer-winning people to write an editorial?
MAY 23 This post on The Lens gives you links to a new Google Earth tool that allows you to see any spot on earth transform over the past 30 years. Bob Marshall, who covers the coast for the paper, says that in the case of Louisiana's coastline, it's possibly something you don't want to see, because it's not a pretty picture. There are several clips here, showing critical areas erode away. For Marshall, it was vindication for all those times he was met with eye-rolling when he talked about erosion.
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