Erasing reason in CRCT probe

However, there is also some smoke being blown over this, and it is imperative that educators who had no business being accused of wrongdoing have a complete chance to exonerate themselves.

According to the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, 44 percent of the classes that were “flagged” for excessive erasures were first- and second-grade classes. Apparently, no one thought to ask the question: “Does that make any sense?”

I would offer the experienced opinion that the answer is “no.” There is absolutely no motivation to cheat at those grade levels because neither grade’s test scores count in the computation of the all-important Adequate Yearly Progress score. Scores don’t begin to count until third grade.

Neither first nor second graders are required to pass the tests to be promoted to the next grade.

With only the rarest of exceptions, first- and second-grade teachers do not cheat. It is not a part of their culture. I think I know what I’m talking about on this one; that’s where my 42 years of experience in public education comes in.

First- and second-grade students mark everywhere on their answer documents. These 6- and 7-year-olds draw happy faces, puppy dogs and even random lines across the page. The job of the teacher is to “clean up” the documents after they are handed in, which could account for extra erasure marks.

Now, the only way that this can be investigated adequately is for the actual testing documents to be viewed by those responsible for proper fact-finding. But GOSA has limited access to the documents. School systems are given the option of viewing only a sample of the answer sheets at the GOSA offices or can choose to spend taxpayers’ money to fly to Indianapolis to view documents at the headquarters of the testing company.

Further, GOSA has declared that first- and second-grade answer booklets cannot be viewed since some of the test questions will be used again next year. Never mind that the first- and second-grade teachers read the test questions aloud to their students during the testing sessions and thus have already seen the questions. Aren’t these documents student records that were originated in the local school system, thus paving the way for local system personnel to view them??

It has been apparent from the outset of this event that the GOSA staff is supremely confident in their statistical methodology. It is just as obvious that those responsible for investigating alleged wrongdoing want more than a “trust us” answer from GOSA to questions they have on the methodology.

GOSA’s reluctance to provide an opportunity for no more than a cursory glance at the “evidence” of possible cheating leaves eyebrows raised and questions in the minds of many local system leaders as to what their next steps should be in determining the truth about what may (or may not) have happened.

Herb Garrett is of the executive director of the Georgia School Superintendents Association.