State finds no wrongdoing in testing

By GINA KINSLOW
Glasgow Daily Times

GLASGOW March 25, 2008 03:03 pm

— State officials found no evidence to support a violation in regards to an allegation that wrongdoing took place at Tompkinsville Elementary during the 2007 Commonwealth Accountability Testing System period.
Officials with the Monroe County School System were notified of the state’s findings March 18 in a letter from Jon E. Draud, state commissioner of education.
In his letter, Draud said the Kentucky Department of Education received a letter describing the alleged testing problem from an anonymous source.
“The letter alleged that teachers taped posters to the walls just days before testing began and that during testing, students were required to write their answers to open response questions on scrap paper. Teachers would then review and make suggestions for revisions before students were allowed to write their final response on the official test forms,” Draud said in his letter to George Wilson, superintendent.
“It also stated that teachers told students how they had performed daily on the test and that practice open response turned out to be actual open response questions.”
After reviewing information submitted to him, Draud said he concurred with the CATS Board of Review’s recommendation that “not enough evidence was found to support a violation of the Administration Code for Kentucky’s Educational Assessment Program.”
Draud also said in his letter that the case is considered closed.
Elizabeth Willett, district assessment coordinator, said that since the state found no evidence to support the alleged violation, no disciplinary action was taken against anyone at the school.
Willett said she did not know who had sent the letter.
“Whoever the person was had not contacted me prior to their allegations to KDE,” she said.
The school system cooperated with KDE when informed of the investigation.
“In the letter they thanked us for our ‘prompt and thorough attention to this matter.’ We provided them with everything they requested and they spoke with several people,” Willett said. “Our position was that if anything alleged was taking place, then we certainly wanted to know and correct the situation.”
Willett said she, along with the district’s special education director, conduct trainings at each school on the Administration Code for Kentucky’s Educational Assessment Program.
“Every person who will be involved in the state assessment must receive this training,” she said. “We go to the schools to conduct this training. People who might be absent on this day are then trained later by one of us or someone in their building who has been trained.”