Virginia’s education department is investigating Alexandria City Public Schools for potential cheating by school officials on exams meant to prepare students for the GED.
At least one ACPS teacher has been put on administrative leave while the Virginia Department of Education completes its investigation, and Virginia Superintendent Patricia Wright has warned that the state might pull funding.
In some of Alexandria’s adult-education classes, every student received the same score on the Tests of Adult Basic or Secondary Education. In another class geared toward English-language learners, students received only the specific cutoff scores for each performance bracket: On a range of 0 to 541, only four different scores were awarded to the 74 students.
| Testing, 123… |
| Sample questions from the math and science exams in prep for the GED: |
| Which of these is equivalent to the expression below? |
| -5x – (-x + 1) |
| a) -5x + x – 1 |
| b) -5x – x – 1 |
| c) -5x + x + 1 |
| d) -5x – x + 1 |
| Why is the electrical energy used to heat homes not always a clean source of energy? |
| a) Electric heaters eventually accumulate dust. |
| b) Coal is often used as fuel to produce electricity. |
| c) Sparking from electric heaters creates ozone. |
| d) Electric batteries can corrode and leak over time. |
| Answers: A, B |
| Source: McGraw-Hill |
Alexandria also reported that 95 students took an oral exam on July 5, even though giving each test takes 20 to 30 minutes and only one Alexandria teacher was certified to proctor the test.
“If we allow 15 minutes per test administration … one person could administer all 95 tests over a period of three days, at eight hours per day, non-stop, and have about 15 minutes for lunch each day,” officials in Virginia’s Office of Adult Education and Literacy wrote in a memo to ACPS.
These findings “rais[e] questions about the validity of the program’s assessment procedures,” including whether non-certified teachers were administering the exams.
State officials told The Washington Examiner that they’re trying to figure out whether the tests were ever actually taken. If they were, the state is exploring the possibility that Alexandria schools officials gave the wrong test and tried to cover it up with fake scores.
Alexandria receives about $172,000 for its adult-education program from the federal government, which requires the school system to test students using McGraw-Hill’s exams.
Two other testing days — Dec. 16, 2011 and Jan. 4, 2012 — were also flagged for a suspect number of reported test-takers.
The state memo says that in a GED class of 10 students, every student received a score of 578. In several classes, students of the same skill level all received a 578, even though these test-takers usually receive scores anywhere from 567 to 595.
“Pending the outcomes of the on-site review — or if circumstances require earlier action — ACPS may be subject to actions up to and including suspension or termination of grant funding to the ACPS adult education program,” Wright wrote in a letter Monday to Alexandria Superintendent Morton Sherman.
Kelly Alexander, a spokeswoman for ACPS, said the employee put on leave was a “teacher who was directly involved in testing and reporting scores.”
In an email, Sherman said the problems may go back six years, and that the state is just now discovering the irregularities.
“Pending the outcome of this investigation severe disciplinary action will take place, and … we will continue our review of all departments,” Sherman said.
