State limits access to tests in cheating probe

By Kristina Torres

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia school systems caught up in a cheating investigation will have just two hours to view the evidence against their schools and will get to see only a sampling of the test sheets in question,  according to a state document obtained Friday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

That's unless the system's officials wish to travel to Indianapolis during the last two weeks in March. Then they'll be able to spend eight hours inspecting as many test sheets as they can, according to the state document.

"It's just not reasonable," said R.D. Harter, spokesman for the Dougherty County system, which was second only to Atlanta's in the number of schools flagged for having standardized tests that showed an unusual pattern of erasures.

But a key state official disagreed.

"It's more than fair given the data they have and will receive," said Eric Wearne, deputy director of the Governor's Office of Student Achievement. "What information do they think they're going to get from them?"

Wearne said the local systems don't need the actual tests to scrutinize testing protocols and security. They have already been sent spreadsheets about the data in question.

The document obtained by the AJC was drawn up by Wearne's office -- the same agency that commissioned the statewide analysis that sparked the investigation.

The document outlines two options for systems to view the tests. Both set restrictions and strict deadlines:

Option 1 permits a two-hour viewing at a state office in Atlanta, but only with a select sample of no more than 150 test answer sheets for grades 3-8.

Option 2 permits up to 8 hours with an unlimited number of test answer sheets, but only if the individuals view the documents at a secure warehouse in Indianapolis. The facility is controlled by CTB-McGraw Hill, the state's testing contractor. The company conducted the analysis, which looked for erasure marks and patterns on student answer sheets by using optical scanners and statistical software.

An answer to which option, if any, a system chooses is due by noon Friday, despite the fact that the systems with the greatest number of schools affected by the probe are still determining who will conduct their investigations.

The answer sheets may only be viewed from March 18-31, and only under supervision. No photocopying is allowed. In each case, no more than four individuals from each system may access the documents.

And no access will be given to answer sheets for grades 1-2 because, the document said, they contain questions that will also appear on this year's state tests to be administered in April. In Dougherty County, 14 of 26 schools were flagged, and Harter noted that half of those were for tests given in grades 1-2 -- documents that Dougherty officials will not be able to access.

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Dougherty's school system has been asking to see all its answer sheets since Feb. 10, when the state released its report. It requested them under the Georgia Open Records Act on Feb. 22. The state said it did not have them and was working with the testing company about how respond to the county's request. . Dougherty's superintendent received the two-page document outlining the state's viewing protocol through e-mail at 9 p.m. Thursday.

"We've got 1,600 teachers, and we feel really strongly the community has condemned us based on what's been reported," Harter said. "We wanted access to all the documents."

According to the state's report, 191 Georgia schools required investigation because they showed patterns of erasures -- unusually large numbers of wrong answers changed to the right ones -- on the state's Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests last spring. The tests, taken by students in first through eighth grades, are used to help determine whether schools meet federal benchmarks.

Officials cautioned, however, that it was too early to determine whether someone cheated. Instead, they instructed local officials to go into their schools and find out what happened.

Some principals said their students are taught test-taking strategies that include crossing out answers students know to be wrong, so that they don't consider them in their final answer. They then erase those marks before turning the test back in.

Atlanta had the most schools flagged of any system with 58, requiring an investigation of more than two-thirds of the city's public elementary and middle schools. Just Wednesday, officials named a panel to oversee that investigation. The panel, a who's who of leaders from city businesses and foundations, expected to pick an outside investigative firm by the end of next week.

The panel's chairman, Gary Price of PricewaterhouseCoopers, said in a statement Friday that the panel respects the state's guidelines and will give them to whichever firm it picks.

But that conciliatory tone was not shared by Tim Callahan, spokesman for the 78,000-member Professional Association of Georgia Educators. He called the state's actions outrageous, given that "you were very lavish with your smears."