In three recent years, 33 New Orleans public schools have been flagged for problems and possible cheating on standardized tests, including an excessive number of changed answers, plagiarism and improper test proctoring, according to records provided by the Louisiana Department of Education.
Live chat replay: Jessica Williams discusses the reporting that led to this story
There were 51 separate instances of irregularities or infractions at those schools in 2010, 2011 and 2012, causing 130 tests to be voided.
The Lens counted 15 incidents that would be considered major infractions under state guidelines:
- 4 incidents, involving 38 tests, of suspiciously high rates of changed answers
- 11 times in which teachers administered tests improperly
Standardized tests are the primary factor for a school’s state-assigned school performance score. Traditional schools that continually score low could be taken over by the state; low-scoring charter schools could be shut down.
A lot rides on these tests for teachers, too. Their jobs could be at stake if their students don’t improve. Teachers in the Capital One New Beginnings Charter School Network received bonuses — one got $43,000 — if their students’ scores rose in 2012.
The Lens used state Department of Education records to examine reported irregularities and infractions on standardized tests in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Due to a change in record-keeping, the information provided so far for 2012 is not complete.
Over the three-year period, 12 schools had repeated problems. Most of them are RSD schools:
- Dwight Eisenhower Academy of Global Studies, an RSD charter
- Dr. King Charter School, an RSD charter
- Edna Karr High School, an OPSB charter
- Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School of Literature and Technology, an OPSB direct-run school
- Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary, an RSD direct-run school
- O. Perry Walker College and Career Preparatory High School and Community Center, an RSD charter
- Thurgood Marshall Early College High School, an RSD charter
- F.W. Gregory Elementary School, an RSD direct-run school
- International School of Louisiana, a BESE charter
- George Washington Carver Senior High School, an RSD direct-run school
- Langston Hughes Academy, an RSD charter
- John Dibert Community School, an RSD charter
In response to The Lens’ findings, RSD spokeswoman Zoey Reed told WVUE-TV that the district “has greatly improved our processes and policies to ensure increased testing oversight. We have increased the number of testing monitors and have provided them with more training to prevent infractions.”
In 2013, Reed said via email, “we only had 2 test infractions in our 68 schools.”
There were problems at about 22 percent of the city’s schools in 2011, twice as many as the year before. A likely reason: In 2010, the state didn’t check tests for high rates of changed answers, citing budget cuts.
33Public schools cited for testing problems38Tests voided in 2011 for suspicious number of changed answers
The state didn’t check for high rates of changed answers in 2009 for the same reason, department officials told The Lens.
When the state resumed those checks in 2011, 18 public schools were cited for excessive erasures, including the four in New Orleans.
Not every violation of testing rules means someone cheated. For instance, state officials could cite a teacher simply for looking at her cell phone while proctoring a test. Perhaps she was texting someone; perhaps she was taking a photo of the test. Either way, it’s against the rules.
But one testing expert told The Lens that seemingly minor violations of testing rules are evidence that teachers and administrators are finding clever ways to help their students perform better on these all-important tests.
“I wouldn’t call them administrative errors; I would call that subtle versions of cheating. … The rules are pretty clear to everybody.”—David Berliner, regents’ professor emeritus of education at Arizona State University
“I wouldn’t call them administrative errors; I would call that subtle versions of cheating,” said David Berliner, regents’ professor emeritus of education at Arizona State University and co-author of “Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America’s Schools.”
“The rules are pretty clear to everybody,” he said.
A few of these problems have been publicized before. Last year, The Times-Picayune reported that teachers at Robert Russa Moton Charter School had been investigated for giving students test questions in advance of the 2011 tests. Teachers at Carver High School and Miller-McCoy Academy for Mathematics and Business were accused of doing the same thing in 2010.
Still, most haven’t come to light until now, including the 38 tests that were flagged for a suspicious number of changed answers.
Four New Orleans schools cited for changed answers in 2011
Testing companies use a technique called “erasure analysis” to detect when an unusual number of answers on a test have been changed to the correct one. This is widely considered to be a reliable way to uncover cheating, although it’s not foolproof.
Data Recognition Corp. conducts erasure analysis on all iLEAP, LEAP and GEE tests. A test with excessive erasures indicates that a student got help or someone changed the answers later.
That’s what happened in Atlanta, where principals and teachers gathered annually to doctor students’ test answers. This analysis was key to the investigations that led to indictments of 35 Atlanta Public Schools administrators and staff.
In 2011, the Louisiana Department of Education voided tests at four New Orleans schools due to suspicious levels of changed answers:
- 23 iLEAP and LEAP tests in three classes at James M. Singleton Charter School
- 8 iLEAP tests in one class at Dwight Eisenhower Academy of Global Studies
- 3 iLEAP tests in one class at Dr. King Charter School
- 4 LEAP tests in one class at F.W. Gregory Elementary
All four schools are part of the Recovery School District. (Gregory, a direct-run school, has since closed.)
Statewide, 212 tests were voided for excessive erasures that year; Singleton had the third-highest number of tests voided for that reason.
Two separate groups of tests at Singleton were voided for excessive erasures. Fifteen were iLEAP math tests, in two classes of third-graders. Another eight came from one class of eighth-graders’ LEAP tests, also math.
Debra Robertson, Singleton’s principal, said that she didn’t know whether any employees involved were reprimanded because she didn’t work at the school then.
Tracie Washington, the lawyer for Friends of King, said that the tests at Dr. King Charter were flagged because the test administrator did not fill out the appropriate paperwork when she saw three students erasing a lot while they took the tests. The state requires teachers to document when they see that; officials review that before deciding to void anything.
Further, Washington said, “There had not been any indication of cheating [because] the students had different answers erased.” However, state officials said their analysis looks at the rate of erasures, not for similarities in the ones that are changed.
The school appealed the decision to void the tests, Washington said, but the state denied it.
An RSD investigation into the changed answers at Gregory was inconclusive, according to state Department of Education spokesman Barry Landry. The district’s test coordinator indicated that teachers would review testing rules before the next test administration, he said.
Adrian Morgan, head of the charter association that runs Eisenhower, declined to comment for this article.
Multiple ways to cheat
Though the Atlanta scandal and others have put a spotlight on teachers erasing wrong answers, there are other ways to cheat on standardized tests.
Data Recognition Corp. also checks all tests for similar written responses, which could indicate that a student peeked at another’s answers or used a cheat sheet, or that a teacher helped out with a writing prompt. Ten schools in New Orleans were flagged for plagiarism between 2010 and 2012 after problems were discovered by Data Recognition or a school, according to documents reviewed by The Lens.
The firm also notifies the state when a test booklet or an answer sheet is missing, which could indicate that someone swiped it to help out students who will be tested later. That didn’t happen in New Orleans in these three years, according to the documents.
And then there are problems with the administration of the tests themselves — something a teacher or someone else did that compromised the security or accuracy of the test.
| Reports of Testing Violations at New Orleans Schools | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type of problem | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| Excessive erasures | * | 4 | * |
| Plagiarism | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Test administration error | 7 | 12 | 8 |
| Missing test or answer sheet | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| *2012 data is incomplete |
The state may cite schools for minor problems, such when teachers don’t fully read aloud instructions, or more serious issues, such as a test administrator providing verbal cues for the correct answers. Both could be classified as an error in test administration, according to state testing officials.
According to state documents, 23 schools in New Orleans were flagged for such rulebreaking between 2010 and 2012. That includes errors that were serious enough to require retesting, as well as those that apparently didn’t compromise the integrity of the test. In addition to state monitoring, districts can report such problems on their own.
In 2010, the state found major infractions of testing rules at Miller-McCoy and Carver High School after visiting 29 New Orleans schools.
At Miller-McCoy, teachers accused administrators of providing test preparation materials uncannily similar to test questions. RSD’s investigation concluded that test results had been compromised. However, the school denied any impropriety.
“When I was taught to do it, I was told that if there are any loud noises, and if kids dropped a pencil … write it down.”—Robin Wright, former administrator at John McDonogh Senior High School
The newly disclosed problem at Carver that year is that a test administrator “was not in control of the class,” Landry said via email. “Secure test materials” were on students’ desks while they ate, and the test administrator read to the students so quickly that they couldn’t keep up.
The next year, 34 New Orleans schools were monitored. The state found major infractions at three schools: Edna Karr High School, Bethune and Abramson Science and Technology Charter School.
According to Bridget Brown, Orleans Parish School Board’s accountability and assessment specialist, the problems at Karr included a test administrator allowing students to use an unauthorized protractor during the math session and distributing reference materials before students started a writing section.
District officials told the state that no tests were compromised. To avoid future errors, the district retrained staff on proper procedures.
Brown said she couldn’t find documents that described what happened at Bethune.
At Abramson, a test administrator was cited for texting during testing, Landry said.
Test proctoring errors range in severity
Overall, test proctoring violations made up many of the incidents noted in state records – about 45 percent for 2010 and 2011.
Some appear to be simple mistakes. School director Mark Martin of Langston Hughes Academy said he couldn’t recall what would have caused his school to be cited for minor violations in 2010, but he did say that state officials gave conflicting guidance as to whether classroom doors should be open or closed during testing.
At Harriet Tubman Charter School in 2012, three teachers mistakenly gave students a time limit on a portion of the test that was supposed to be untimed. Later, administrators reissued that test to students on a different day. Both are against the rules.
But providing advance access to tests — which is what was alleged at Miller-McCoy, Moton and Carver — also would be considered a test administration error.
”The RSD has greatly improved our processes and policies to ensure increased testing oversight. We have increased the number of testing monitors and have provided them with more training to prevent infractions.”—Zoey Reed, Recovery School District spokeswoman
Moreover, what appears to be a minor misstep may actually be a subtle way to help students, said Berliner, the testing expert. In his research, Berliner has found instances of teachers hanging instructional posters on the walls during testing, giving students extra time, and even reminding students at the start of a test to remember a previous lesson that related to test material.
Berliner said he wasn’t surprised that proctoring errors constituted such a large portion of the violations because widely publicized cheating scandals have caused teachers to wise up to erasure detection.
“Once you know that there’s an alarm system,” he said, “you find a way around the alarm.”
Robin Wright, who was an administrator at John McDonogh Senior High School last school year and taught at Sci Academy the year before, said it’s more complicated than that. Some schools are just more vigilant.
“When I was taught to do it, I was told that if there are any loud noises, and if kids dropped a pencil … write it down,” she said. Other teachers and schools may not report such things, she said.
Strict rules for testing
The rules for administering standardized tests are laid out in state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education policy and test administration manuals. They’re comprehensive: In addition to numerous other directives, the manuals describe what is considered a violation of test security, explain how instructors should accommodate students with special needs and discuss the procedures for extending or adjusting time, if necessary.
Still, school leaders say they are bound to make mistakes from time to time.
In 2012, a teacher at the former Reed Elementary improperly read aloud a portion of instructions on the “reading and responding” section of the LEAP test to seven eighth-graders. The teacher was supposed to read some instructions aloud, but not for that section. The school reported it to the state and requested retests.
“This was a careless and honest mistake,” said Andrew Cox, ReNEW Schools director of data and assessment. “It was disappointing, and obviously frustrating, but these things happen.”
Wright joked that she and colleagues have had “papering parties” in which they cover up one another’s instructional classroom posters with paper — per the state’s rules — and arrange seats so that students can’t easily spot classmates’ answers.
She’s sure some teachers cheat — “because people get desperate.” But when a teacher cheats, “I’m secretly giving you the message that ‘You can’t do this,’” she said.
“If you need to do that, then you are not doing what you need to do as a teacher.”
Charter school reporters Della Hasselle, Marta Jewson and Heather Miller contributed to this report, as did WVUE-TV.
Republishing note: If you would like to republish this story before 8 p.m. on July 17, special conditions apply. Please email editor@thelensnola.org for details.
Seems like a fairly typical set of testing issues for a small city. Looks like there may have been one intentional cheating episode at Singleton, but otherwise looks like an assortment of proctoring issues.
The lead-in is Times-Picayune reporter Andrew Vanacore’s (article on alleged cheating at Moton): ” (Victor) Gordon wrote back letting the district (Orleans) know that Moton had hired Adams and Reese to investigate the allegations. ‘Afterwards the board will determine, based on Adams and Reese’s investigation, how we will address the claims and your recommendations,’ he wrote…
“In a follow-up letter, Gordon said Adams and Reese wasn’t able to confirm that any cheating had occurred, but added, ‘In a spirit of cooperation and because even the appearance of impropriety in these regards is a serious matter that will always be handled aggressively by this board … we plan to implement the recommendations referenced in your letter.’ ”
“Adams and Reese attorney Lee Reid said negotiations with district staff produced a compromise that allowed Moton to avoid terminating anyone. Reid declined to name any individuals accused of wrongdoing or say what position they held.”
“Whatever the case, Padian said the Moton employee that district staff felt was most responsible for potential cheating has left the school.”
Here’s the “nickelndime” comment (10 months ago):
If Lee Reid wrote the book on corruption, then Adams and Reese LLP edited it. Pastorek’s former law firm (Adams and Reese) and Mr. Reid (friend of Paul Pastorek) have been buying power for years (contributes to Lourdes Moran’s campaigns; inside info from OPSB legal counsel and board members, like Moran and Tommy Robichaux…) to obtain even more lucrative work (counsel for Algiers Charter School Association, other charter schools, like Einstein Charter and the New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy, and the non-profits related to opening new charters). Do you see where this is going, Kathleen Padian? Do you know who you really are working for, or are you one of them? Who sat you down? Was it Stan, Lourdes, Ed, Tommy, Lee….? The Moton board knows the nature and political connections of Adams and Reese to the OPSB and to the State Department of Education. That’s why Moton hired Reid. Moton has been using these kind of “testing” aids for years. Nobody in the OPSB wanted to know about it. Damn whistleblowers – that’s what they are saying behind closed doors, and Lee Reid is in the room with them. …
For those of you who are not familiar with Adams and Reese LLP, it has billed Lycee $40,000 for legal work this past year, $10,000 of which was paid for producing “public records” (Hello Lee Reid!). Gawd only knows how much Moton paid Reid to deal with the inside investigation (of cheating) that cleared Moton. And only gawd knows how much was paid to Reid to deal with other alleged violations (possible ethics) at Moton (but hey, OPSB is breaking ground this week on a brand new building, so Moton must be doing something right). To the untrained eye, it may appear that testing irregularities in this small city may be blamed on minor infractions like proctoring, but this is not so. A lengthy and informative article has been written here (has been judged newsworthy) because, in this small corrupt city, there are no small insignificant accidents, not when millions of dollars are tied to test outcomes and $43,000 bonuses are paid to teachers based on test results.
Notwithstanding the cooperation by my client, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School, in the preparation by Jessica Williams for her story on
In our story we listed every school with multiple problems. In an accompanying article http://thelensnola.org/2013/07/16/how-the-lens-investigated-standardized-testing-problems/ we described how we did our reporting, which I encourage you to read. That story lists every document we used and links to a Google Spreadsheet summarizing all the problems:
The state documents detail the following problems at Dr. King Charter:
2011: Erasure analysis involving three tests, which were voided
2012: Test administration error involving one test, which was voided
That’s two incidents in two years.
Steve Myers,
Managing Editor
Mr. Myers:
Did you bother to check on the nature of the “administration error” i.e., whether it was an RSD issue or a school issue? Of course you did not, because you would not have reported this story as though there were multiple irregularities by King School.
Tracie L. Washington, Esq.
+1. I’m glad to have The Lens and the Advocate keeping an eye on this kind of stuff, but if what we turn up is 38 voided tests out of thousands and thousands over three years then that seems like good news.
We get it already! Lee Reid bad. Adams and Reese bad. You bring it up in almost every single one of your posts. Move on. Check out how much OPSB spends on outside counsel for both legal and gov’t relations.
OK. Now let do some investigations at the private public voucher accepting schools. Or, at private schools period. To eleminate allegations of cheating and ineptness in general, why don’t they just check the test on site, with a test key, as the students complete them instead of sending them off to be graded at some firm that has a financial stake in “negative” results. .
Hey, I just remembered there was an “internal” investigation conducted at Lafayette Academy over alleged testing improprieties (cheating) last year. What happened to that? And this is for nolacotton – Yeah, Lee Reid bad. Adams and Reese bad. When you drive a point, I say, best drive it all the way home. Tracie Washington – now she and Dr. Martin Luther King Charter (her client) – are another story. “Slander”? I don’t think so.
I would like to see Ms. Washington, or anyone else involved with the RSD and its schools, call for an investigation to prove her allegations of slander and lies. Yes that would seem appropriate wouldn’t it. She is a lawyer and knows what constitutes a slander case. Of course that won’t happen. The RSD, White and BESE will squeal loudly but the last thing they want is an investigation. That’s why when BESE member Lottie Beebe moved for a “review” of complaints by students and parents of RSD schools, the other BESE members voted no. If Ms. Washington protests too much, she may find herself in court. Maybe she will join Adams and Reese for the – prosecution?
Paying attorneys to conduct internal investigations of alleged “cheating” incidents and/or to rebut articles and media coverage is misuse of public funds – unless, UNLESS people like Tracie and Lee C. are doing pro bono work. I don’t think so!
“The RSD, White and BESE will squeal loudly but the last thing they want is an investigation.” Really? Why is that? Do you have any facts to back up the innuendo here?
I believe an investigation will reveal the facts. The manipulation of school performance scores upon which federal grants are often dependent is questionable. The huge number of contracts White enters into, the refusal to provide public information upon request, the use of taxpayer money for student vouchers . . . . When someone claims to have obtained a masters degree n 2012 but in reality only has an “executive masters in public administration” that was issued in 2011 a red flag goes up. An executive masters is a lesser degree with less than half the hours and incomplete curriculum. Would White accept that from students? Oh yes we know he believes untrained college graduates are as qualified as certified teachers, but how far does that transfer? I believe if employees of LDE were brought to court under oath, their answers to appropriate questions old be quite revealing. Would it go beyond ethical breaches? Possibly.
Will_k2 – everybody knows who I am when I comment. Are you as transparent?
So, no, you don’t have any facts.
I don’t have a burning need for visibility, I’m not running for office. I’m also not accusing anyone of large scale, organized fraud without any evidence.
This is in response to the first of Ms. Barrios’ comments.
Why did THE LENS investigate cheating and/or testing irregularities in New Orleans public schools if there was, what, maybe one intentional episode of cheating and the rest were proctoring errors? This is enlightening. Who knew, and with such certainty?! Did LENS reporter, Jessica Williams, just wildly wake up one morning and say, hey, I am going to request public records from the LDOE and get material for a ” test cheating” article??? And why would the LENS or anybody monitor this kind of stuff anyway? To assure the public that the LDOE is on the up-n-up and is exactly what it represents itself to be (“The World according to Zoey”)? Well, I for one am glad that there is no cheating going on in the public schools in New Orleans and there is no corruption at state and federal levels. Maybe the city should be renamed “Utopia.” What a relief!
Hi nickelndime,
Sorry for not responding here sooner. When we requested data from the state on cheating investigations, Lafayette Academy was not included. This was because Lafayette’s internal investigation concluded that the allegations made in 2012 were unsubstantiated. Schools are only required to report allegations that are substantiated through internal investigations to LDOE. We could not get a copy of Lafayette’s internal investigation, for conflicting reasons, as you remember – http://thelensnola.org/2012/12/10/public-in-the-dark-about-cheating-accusation-at-lafayette-academy/
Lafayette was not listed among schools with testing irregularities or infractions for 2010 or 2011. But the allegations were made in 2012, and we only got limited data for that year.
Good grief. If a school can conduct an internal investigation, find itself “not guilty” and then close the books on the matter without ever disclosing its findings to anyone outside the school, then what hope is there of ever uncovering even the most egregious examples of cheating?
“Good Grief” is right, Alan RampartStreet. Thanks. I was beginning to doubt my sanity the more comments I read about this “testing” article (Ha!) Internal investigation (ouch!), paid attorneys (with lots of public money that should be spent on students in classrooms) (double ouch!)…and yes, Jessica (I remember the Lafayette story), but no, I don’t remember the conflict involved in obtaining a copy of the report (“Lafayette’s internal investigation concluded that the allegations made in 2012 were unsubstantiated. Schools are only required to report allegations that are substantiated through internal investigations to LDOE. We could not get a copy of Lafayette’s internal investigation, for conflicting reasons…”). Who conducted the investigation? Board attorneys? This is ridiculous. No, it is obscene (that’s stronger). In fact, it makes me wonder why we don’t use these techniques in lieu of a legal system. Consider this scenario: The alleged individual who allegedly hit the alleged pedestrian with his alleged vehicle hired the law firm of …… to conduct an internal investigation into the pedestrian’s death which appears to have been related to the alleged vehicle striking the alleged individual. Following an internal investigation by the unidentified law firm of …, it will be determined if an accident actually occurred and whether or not the proper authorities should be notified. The names of the alleged individuals have been withheld to protect the alleged individuals who were involved in the alleged incident. And no, don’t expect that the media and/or reporters will get copies of any report which may or may not result from the investigation. Now, given that an individual has enough money to pay legal fees (which, obviously, these charter schools do – which would explain why so many attorenys want to be “board” members and keep circling these schools), this would cut down on court costs and save everybody a lot of time. What do you think? It might work here.
I’m stunned by the brazenness of this arrangement, but not entirely surprised–this is Louisiana, after all. And while I don’t doubt that there are many honorable people involved in Charter Schools (just as there are many honorable people in conventional public schools) this entire self-reporting arrangement–whatever its intent–has the undeniable consequence of facilitating the action of cheaters. If no outside third party is automatically checking up on the school’s procedures, unannounced and without being asked, then those with dishonest intent will seize the opportunity to cheat in a way that defies detection after the fact, such as giving out test questions to students ahead of time. With so much money riding on the outcome of standardized testing now, it is simply inevitable that, given the golden opportunity to do so, some people will attempt to game the system in order to keep the checks rolling in.
Alan RampartStreet. You have said it. U da best. Dat’s what I am talkin’ bout. Now where is the common sense? Lost in dollars and cents?!!!
Is it any wonder why a huge percentage of Louisiana and New Orleans politicians are investigated, indicted and convicted of some crime, while in office? Just look at where ethics are supposed to be taught, school, and what do we see here?
The parents, teachers and schools administrators have only to blame themselves for the state of NOLA and Louisiana. Once GOD was taken out of schools, ethics went out the window and corruptions in government (as well as the legal system) came in.
AhContraire, it seems to me that if god is really god, then god goes wherever god wants to go. The capacity to be that should be part of being all-powerful, right? On the other hand, if god can be stopped by a “god keep out” sign, then maybe god really isn’t god.
Is it not said that “true love sets one FREE so that the one who is free, can freely love back?
And is it not said that “God is love”?
Hence, God is allowing true choice due to his love for man?
True choice for man is to love or not to love God, is it not?
And wouldn’t true choice also means accepting the consequences of that choice, no matter what the consequences are?
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
2 afraid 2 follow me on Twitter?
U can still bookmark me at http://twitter.com/AhContraire
Hi Diane,
Just seeing this; sorry for not responding here sooner.
The issues at ISL were self-reported administrative errors. Details about both issues are outlined in this spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ArEOshF5q8t9dE1RZXpLVEVEVGdhVWY4X3h5QWRUYVE&output=html
Best,
Jessica