Test-tampering cases routine for Georgia panel

ATLANTA --- News that educators at four schools were accused of tampering with standardized tests made headlines across the state, but the board that licenses teachers gets about a dozen complaints of test irregularities every month.

Ethics complaints about teachers totaled 866 during the last fiscal year, or just more than six for every 1,000 teachers. That equals the combined rates for dentists and druggists.

Of course, not all complaints are found to be valid. The Professional Standards Commission launched formal investigations into just 46 percent of the allegations, and only 55 percent of those resulted in sanctions, which ranged from a warning to revocation of a teaching license.

The most common sanction was a suspension.

On Thursday, the commission found probable cause in the cases of four educators from Burroughs-Molette Elementary in Glynn County accused of the high-profile test cheating, and it recommended each be suspended for 190 days, which is a school year.

The names of the educators have not been released. The commission only refers to each case by number, partly to prevent any bias for or against a teacher. Names are released only when the case is closed, the educator accepts the punishment or an appeal moves it to a public hearing.

"We could be talking about three years if they string out the appeals," said Gary Walker, the director of educator ethics for the commission. "That's why it's important that the locals take action."

The Glynn educators are likely to appeal because an internal investigation by the local school board found no evidence of intentional cheating. One retired, but the remaining three are still working in the system, although two have been reassigned, according to system spokesman Jim Weidhaas.

The Glynn educators -- along with two from Fulton County, two from DeKalb County and eight from Atlanta Public Schools -- came to the commission's attention as the result of an investigation by the Governor's Office of Student Achievement. Investigators noticed statistical irregularities in the scores of fifth-graders from those four Glynn schools who during summer school retook standardized math tests they had flunked during the regular year. Their scores on the retest were just too good.

Further examination showed an unusually high number of wrong answers were erased and replaced with correct answers.

Student Achievement intends to look for more instances where scores are too good, according to Executive Director Kathleen Mathers.

"We're actually going to be considerably more aggressive than we were last year," she said.

Instead of looking at just the summer school retests for one grade, the agency will scrutinize all of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests from grades 1-8.

"I think we're going to find that the vast majority of our schools are doing it honestly," Ms. Mathers said.

Generally, the allegations against teachers come from their colleagues and administrators.

With 87 standardized tests given each year, there are plenty of opportunities to step outside of the often-complex procedures, observers say.

"Most of them are not deliberate cheating cases," Mr. Walker said