Scranton teachers union finds fault in PSSA investigation

A trained investigator, and not the superintendent of the Scranton School District, should have led the probe in determining whether cheating occurred on standardized tests, according to the teachers union.

The Scranton Federation of Teachers has filed grievances over the suspension of one teacher without pay and letters of reprimand given to four others. One other teacher may also be receiving a letter, and neither the union nor school district will identify the teachers.

Superintendent William King was directed by the state earlier this year to conduct an investigation into whether cheating occurred on Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests taken between 2009 and 2011. Scranton was one of six districts identified by the state in September for possible manipulation of answer sheets by adults. A forensic analysis by the state looked at PSSA scores and examined the rate in which answers were changed.

Union President Rosemary Boland claims the way Mr. King conducted the investigation was flawed, and she is discrediting his findings.

"If this was going to be done and done correctly, it should have been done by a private entity," she said. "Because he did the investigation himself, he set the parameters, the course and he conducted it."

Interviews with students were done by himself and parents did not know their children were interviewed, Ms. Boland said. Mr. King came up with questions on his own and used the data to draw his own conclusions, she said,

"He is a superintendent of schools. He's not a trained investigator. He has no skills like that. No superintendent does," Ms. Boland said.

The union has received no details on what was found in the investigation, only the names of the teachers who are being disciplined, she said. Ms. Boland has asked for all notes, data and other information used in the investigation.

Grievances by the teachers who have received letters of reprimand have already been heard by the school board. Prior to the hearings this month, district solicitor John Minora proposed a deal to the teachers: the letters would be removed from their permanent files in June if the teachers "behaved themselves and did nothing wrong" for the rest of the school year, Ms. Boland said.

Those teachers said they had not done anything wrong, and refused to take the deal, she said.

Mr. King said he stands by his investigation. In a November letter, the Department of Education accepted Mr. King's report.

"I conducted the investigation to the best of my ability," he said. "I provided my findings, and they accepted my findings and commended me for the thorough job I did."

Mr. King said he does not plan to publicly release any details about the findings of his investigation.

This fall, state Secretary of Education Ron Tomalis blamed a decline in test scores statewide on the cheating investigation and the additional security measures taken for the 2012 test. With extra security, a truer measure of student achievement was found, instead of scores being artificially inflated by the cheating of teachers or administrators, Mr. Tomalis said at the time.

Ms. Boland said the state should not have let Mr. King conduct the investigation on his own and has problems with the state's probe as well.

"This was an attempt to discredit public education in the state," she said.

In a statement, state Department of Education press secretary Tim Eller said the investigation was initiated to ensure the integrity of the exams and that the results reflect actual student performance.

"Those who interfere with this process do a disservice to students, parents and taxpayers," he said.

Contact the writer: shofius@timesshamrock.com, @hofiushallTT on Twitter

Source: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/scranton-teachers-union-finds-fault-in-pssa-investigation-1.1422924?localLinksEnabled=false

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