Re: School cleared of cheating!

["Flanigan, Allen" <Allen.Flanigan@USPTO.GOV>]

I can't wait for the companion report from the state confirming that all
teachers in Ohio have, in fact, improved their teaching and are in no way
teaching to the test as part of their curriculum.

Glory Be!

> -----Original Message-----
> From: sobrien@COLUMBUS.RR.COM [SMTP:sobrien@COLUMBUS.RR.COM]
> Sent: Friday, June 09, 2000 7:52 AM
> To:   ARN-L@listsrva.CUA.EDU
> Subject:      School cleared of cheating!
>
> Folks, it's a miracle! No cheating happened at this school!
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Ohio's Greatest Home Newspaper
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *    Search dispatch.com
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *    Back to the Dispatch Reds page
>
> *    Back to the home page
>
>
> School cleared of cheating
>
> State can't prove Eastgate students got test answers
>
> Friday, June 9, 2000
>
>
>
> Barbara Carmen
>
>
> Dispatch Staff Reporter
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Fred Squillante / Dispatch
>
>
>
> Superintendent Rosa A. Smith, left, and Barbara Blake, principal of
> Eastgate Elementary, are pleased that a state investigation did not
> substantiate charges that the school cheated on state tests. Blake
> attributes the increase in test scores to "good old-fashioned hard work.''
>
>
> A two-week state investigation yesterday confirmed what Columbus Public
> Schools already knew: Allegations that Eastgate Elementary had cheated to
> boost student test scores on a fourth- grade proficiency test could not be
> substantiated.
>
> Superintendent Rosa A. Smith, flanked by Principal Barbara Blake and
> Columbus Board of Education member Bill Moss, said the finding cleared the
> school and vindicated its success.
>
> "We are very, very pleased that the (Ohio) Department of Education
> investigation confirms what we found in our own investigation,'' Smith
> said at the East Side school. "We take all allegations of impropriety very
> seriously.
>
> "We're glad to close this year with the additional confirmation . . . The
> case is now closed. The Eastgate staff can go away for the summer feeling
> very good about their work.''
>
> In a five-paragraph news release, the Education Department said three
> investigators interviewed 18 people, including 11 students, at the request
> of Columbus schools.
>
> The review was prompted by several fifth-graders who told their teacher a
> "tutor'' had supplied answers to the 1999 statewide test.
>
> That teacher, Barbara McCarroll, has said she reported the charges to
> Blake, who questioned the children.
>
> Blake concluded the cheating could not have occurred.
>
> But rumors persisted, flaring as President Clinton visited and praised
> Eastgate May 4 as part of his school reform tour. Eastgate's scores had
> jumped by as much as 394 percent in reading and by 229 percent in math.
>
> Yesterday, Blake reiterated that this progress was the result of "good
> old-fashioned hard work.''
>
> "We have a staff that comes in at 8 a.m. and doesn't leave before 6 or 7,
> and then they return after dinner. We work on Saturdays. We work on
> Sundays. My teachers phone on snow days and ask if they can come in,'' she
> said.
>
> The state said "Investigators found no substantiation of the allegations
> of testing improprieties. . . . The case against Eastgate Elementary is
> now closed.''
>
> McCarroll last night said the case is still open to her. "They can say
> whatever they want. They can use all the official words they want to, but
> they can't get over that mountain. And that mountain to me is the
> children. I believe the children, the parents believe the children, and
> thousands of other people believe the children,'' she said.
>
> A father of one of the boys who reported he received help on the 1999 test
> believes his son.
>
> "I don't think the kids have been lying,'' Michael A. Lytle said. "If they
> haven't found anything, it means they're not looking to find anything. As
> I've said before, everyone's covering their own tail.
>
> "At least at this point, the school knows that they've got someone looking
> at them.''
>
> His son, Michael Edwards, 11, reported a tutor worked out a math problem
> so he could determine the correct answer.
>
> Lytle said he's puzzled by certain statements made during the school-
> district investigation. For example, the district said none of the
> children allegedly given help passed the math proficiency test.
>
> Lytle said he tutors his son in math, and his son passed the math test.
>
> Other questions persist. According to the district's investigative report,
> Blake said that the only person in the room was fourth-grade teacher
> Audrey Lester.
>
> Lester said she administered the test alone to 32 students and that no
> other adult was present.
>
> State proficiency test rules require that "For any group of more than 30
> students, proctors will assist examiners so that the ratio of
> examiners/proctors to students is no greater than 30 students to one
> examiner in any room.''
>
> Another wrinkle is that children, when questioned, identified the tutor as
> a woman they thought was named "Sandy.''
>
> Blake had said the kids described Sandy as "a fat, white woman.'' Blake
> then told investigators that the only Sandy in her building is a reading
> volunteer from the Ohio Civil Rights Commission who visited on Fridays.
>
> Because Sandy wasn't present on math-testing day, a Thursday, both state
> and district investigators concluded she could not have helped children on
> the test.
>
> That volunteer, Sandra Aukeman, contacted by The Dispatch, said she didn't
> help any students cheat. She also said she weighs 105 pounds.
>
> Additionally, Eastgate lacked a second proctor for the test because it had
> no counselor during the 1998- 99 school year. In many district elementary
> schools it's common for counselors to oversee the test.
>
> The district, however, is short of counselors, and many buildings must
> share or go without.
>
> Blake said yesterday she did not have a full-time counselor, so she turned
> the task over to her literacy facilitator, Katherine Coleman, who served
> as testing coordinator. Coleman is the sister-in-law of Bill Moss.
>
> Moss blasted media coverage as part of a racist ploy.
>
> The story drew coverage from such national news outlets as Time magazine,
> Good Morning America and The Washington Post.
>
> "This is done to support the propaganda for the notion that black children
> are inferior,'' Moss said. "It's also done to undermine the staff. Then
> your expectations are lowered, and it's an uphill climb.
>
> "These are some of the brightest kids, and we are crushing their little
> selfhoods. This is a black school that delivered the president of the
> United States.''
>
> All children interviewed by The Dispatch who reported the cheating are
> black, as are McCarroll and Blake.
>
> Smith indicated that the charges more likely received great attention
> because they fed into a "political agenda of those questioning the
> integrity of the testing process. . . . There's also a lot of concern
> about teacher accountability.''
>
> She said the district is working to improve testing policies. One
> suggestion that stemmed from the Eastgate allegations is to provide a
> second proctor during testing.
>
> "There are some lessons to be learned,'' Smith said.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> HOME | SPONSORED EVENTS | CLASSIFIEDS | ONLINE YELLOW PAGES | SUBSCRIBE |
> CONTACT US
>
> Copyright © 2000, The Columbus Dispatch
>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the ARN-L list, send command SIGNOFF ARN-L
to LISTSERV@LISTS.CUA.EDU.