Quite a bombshell story shaping up in Houston this week:
A Houston teacher's union official says school district officials ignored a middle school teacher who tried to report cheating on standardized tests last spring. The Houston Federation of Teachers says the teacher told union representatives last year that a school administrator gave her advance copies of the 2004 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.
The teacher's school is one of 25 Houston Independent School District campuses under investigation because of uncharacteristically high scores on the TAKS.
Union president Gayle Fallon says the union offered to have the teacher give a statement in return for immunity. She says the district's attorney declined and — as far as she knows — nothing was done.
HISD spokesman Terry Abbott declined to comment.
So what's going on here? It seems that teachers in Houston schools, as is their custom, used last year's exam sheets to prep for this year's exams - which is perfectly kosher on exams that don't re-use items. Only, somehow, in certain schools, what got used for this year's prep was this year's exam, and all the hullaballoo has to do with WHO got ahold of those test forms ahead of time. Teachers aren't too happy that the finger of suspicion is now pointed their way:
There are now 23 schools in the Houston School District suspected of having problems with test scores. Those problems may be tied to cheating on the statewide TAKS test...
Some Houston teachers say they are being targeted in the HISD cheating investigation. There is anger and frustration as the publicity keeps pointing to teachers as the ones helping kids cheat. The local teachers union says it has files of complaints that prove otherwise.
Key Middle School is one of the schools targeted as having huge gaps in test performance. The union describes a complaint last fall involving TAKS review sheets. "Last year's test is this year's review sheet, and that's perfectly legal," says Gail Fallon, Houston Federation of Teachers president.
Only, the practice sheet was not last year's test.
"Someone at Key handed out the sheets that the teachers were led to believe were the review sheets from last year's test. Then they realized when they gave the test they were this year's," says Fallon.
The union complained to the district, but Fallon says the investigation went nowhere when she asked for the teachers to be protected.
"Here we now have members that are in possession of the test they didn't know it to be the test, but they still, you know, it's like having the stolen money in your hand when the police arrive," says Fallon.
The union says it also received complaints last year by minimum wage office clerks, claiming principals were asking them to change grades.
SOMEBODY's been very bad here. Be interesting to see how that press conference on Monday turns out.
Posted by kswygert at January 8, 2005 09:59 PM