Senator: Make it a crime to change test scores

A leading state senator says it should be a crime for Georgia educators to change students’ answers on standardized tests, and the governor has indicated he may be willing to support such a law.

Sen. Dan Weber, who chairs the Senate’s education committee, is calling for the new law in response to a state audit released last week showing that answers had been altered on the fifth-grade Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests to improve scores at four elementary schools last summer. At one of the schools — Atherton Elementary in DeKalb County — the principal resigned and the assistant principal was reassigned late last week after officials determined tampering had occurred.

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“I think it’s awful what they’ve done. It cheats the kids, and it’s not good for their school systems and not good for the state of Georgia,” said Weber, a Republican from Dunwoody. “That kind of behavior is obviously deplorable.”

The cheating allegations came to light in the preliminary results of an audit presented to the state Board of Education on Wednesday. Other than DeKalb, no districts have identified who was responsible for altering the tests. State officials have said students were not involved.

Those found responsible for the cheating could face criminal charges under an existing law that prohibits tampering with state documents, said Bert Brantley, spokesman for Gov. Sonny Perdue. Officials with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the DeKalb County district attorney’s office said they have no plans to investigate the cheating at this point.

Brantley said the governor would also support creating a new law if prosecutors do not feel existing statutes are adequate to press criminal charges.

“If there’s some hesitation from prosecutors because it’s not a specific language on testing and school documents, and they would prefer to have a specific statute, the governor would be very willing to look at crafting something that prosecutors could use,” Brantley said late last week.

The audit found higher scores helped all four schools meet standards and avoid sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind law. The state school board is expected to vote next month on whether to toss out the scores. That would mean none of the schools made “adequate yearly progress” on federal benchmarks.

Schools that don’t meet standards must offer extra tutoring and allow parents to transfer their children to higher performing schools.

The audit, conducted by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, also found the answer sheets of the altered tests had up to 40 erasures, compared with the average of two per student on tests that were not altered. Most of the answers were changed from wrong to right.

Kathleen Mathers, head of the Office of Student Achievement, said formal complaints against anyone found responsible will be filed with the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, the agency that oversees licensing educators. If teachers or principals are found at fault, they could lose their jobs and their state certification.

Along with Atherton, the schools under review are Burroughs-Molette Elementary in Glynn County, Atlanta’s Deerwood Academy and Parklane Elementary in Fulton County.

Atherton principal James L. Berry resigned and assistant principal Doretha Alexander was reassigned last week. Neither have returned repeat requests for comment.

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On the Net:

Governor’s Office of Student Achievement: http://www.gaosa.org/