The Whitfield County Schools system must comply with state orders after an analysis showed one of its schools had more changed answers on a statewide test than average.
System spokesman Eric Beavers said the county is required to conduct an investigation at Eastside Elementary School and submit the results to the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, which issued analysis results earlier this month.
The analysis of elementary and middle schools looked at the number of wrong-to-right changes made on the Criterion Referenced Competency Test, seeing if the numbers exceeded the overall state average of 4 percent.
Schools were ranked in one of four categories of concern — clear, minimal, moderate and serious — and more than 190 Georgia schools were flagged.
PDF: Letter to Staff PDF: Governor’s Office of Student Achievement Statewide AnalysisPDF: Governor’s Office of Student Achievement State Audit Plan PDF: Office of Student Achievement’s Comprehensive 2009 CRCT Analysis PDF: Office of Student Achievement listing of percentage of flagged classesPDF: Governor’s Office of Student Achievement news releaseTEST CHECKThe Governor’s Office of Student Achievement teamed with CTB-McGraw Hill analysts to scan test answer sheets to identify the number of erasures per classroom. Classrooms where wrong-to-right changes proved to be significantly above the state average were flagged. Statewide, 80 percent of schools were in the clear of concern category, 10 percent in the minimal concern, 6 percent in the moderate concern and 4 percent in the severe concern.Source: Governor’s Office of Student Achievement
The study showed Eastside Elementary listed as a moderate concern, edging into the investigation-triggering “moderate” category by less than 1 percent. Whitfield’s other 17 schools fell into the “clear” category.
“Overall, their system looks good,” said Mallie McCord, spokeswoman for the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement.
However, the state also is requiring that Whitfield schools rotate teachers’ duties and that local officials monitor the school’s testing environment when the CRCT is given this spring, Mr. Beavers said.
State officials also could conduct random spot checks during testing at any of the schools flagged as having “moderate” concerns, he said.
State board of education member Larry Winter, a Dalton certified public accountant and certified fraud examiner who represents 15 North Georgia counties, said the state’s analysis is no indicator of wrongdoing, but it does call for further investigation.
The main concern is whether the test answers were changed by an adult, he said.
Most cited systems in the state have until April 1 to file results of local investigations with the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, he said. Some systems with a high number of cited schools can file a report as late as May 14.
Mr. Winter said two other systems in his representative district — Gainesville City with two and Lumpkin County with one — also had schools in the moderate concern category.
Catoosa’s Cloud Springs Elementary, Dalton’s Brookwood Elementary and Walker’s Cherokee Ridge Elementary schools also were flagged as of “minimal concerns,” records show.
Schools in the clear category face no state orders, while those in the minimal category must monitor testing or rotate teachers at flagged schools.