- April 19, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
The Department of Education dropped its investigation into 75 Buddy Taylor FCAT reading test-takers suspected of cheating. Investigations into two other Flagler tests are pending.
Flagler County Assessment, Accountability and Equity Coordinator Jim Devine said that, on June 10, the district learned it was included on a list of 14 school systems statewide suspected by the Department of Education of cheating on year-end standardized tests.
One part of the investigation — into Buddy Taylor Middle School’s 75 eighth-graders flagged for “unusual levels” of erasures on the FCAT Reading Assessment — was closed on June 23, clearing the school of all charges.
Buddy Taylor’s school grade, which was being withheld until the matter was resolved, will be announced mid-July.
A second allegation of cheating fingered six Flagler Palm Coast High School students, for high similarities of answers on the Algebra End-of-Course exam, a new district standard. A third included a group of 20 students, from different schools and grade levels.
“There hasn’t been anything like this,” Devine said of testing investigations. “We’re getting ready to move into performance pay for teachers … so (the DOE) has started this security process.”
According to Devine, tests were flagged based on averages and probability, based on a per-test state erasure mean of .42, less than one erased answer per test. Flagler’s average was higher than .42. Some of the students flagged recorded only one erased/replaced answer.
After scrutinizing the data, Devine said it was obvious students weren’t cheating.
For example, there were 12 particular students, he said, who each recorded two erasures a piece. But the 12 were spread throughout 11 different classrooms during test time.
“Therefore, there was no collusion of any kind,” he said. “Even though there were 12 erasers, they were doing it in isolation.”
Another group of four students tallied more than 20 erasures between them. But none benefited from the changes.
“They had as many wrong-to-wrong answers as wrong-to-right,” Devine said.
Devine led a local investigation, then he sent his findings to the state. On June 23, Superintendent Janet Valentine received a call confirming that only three of the 75 tests in question saw any benefit from the erasures, and that the case was closed.
The company tasked with analyzing test results is Caveon Test Security, an Arizona-based firm.
“I think the state is looking at their method,” Devine said. “Now, in retrospect, they realize they have to analyze the data and see what exactly is going on.”
Of the group of 20 students dispersed throughout the county who showed high score similarities, Devine said that two admitted to cheating. He compiled investigative documentation and recommended the DOE invalidate the scores of those who cheated, but release all others.
He expects a response to his letter in September.
An investigation into the six flagged FPC Algebra tests is under way.
