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9486 in the collection
The Troubling Consequences of Putting Too Much Emphasis on One Test
Ohanian Comment: If you can read beneath the salacius details about the teacher in this sad story, this situation reveals what might drive a school to cheat to improve its rating--not only pride but money, prestige, advancement. . . . There's also the reality that even a legitimate boost in scores one year may cause havoc in future years. But if a principal has moved on to bigger and better things. . . .
In 2002, Sunland Park Elementary fifth-graders scored abnormally well on the FCAT -- so well in fact, that school officials have said the scores could have been tampered with.
A year later, the school's grade dropped from a C to an F. A Herald analysis of FCAT scores has shown the fifth-grade teacher with the most inflated test scores was Gregory Hadden, the fifth-grade team leader.
Besides the puzzling test scores, Hadden had another problem that year. He was arrested and charged with grand theft for twice pawning his School Board-issued laptop computer. Ultimately, he pleaded no contest and resigned in the fall as the school district moved to fire him.
Despite Hadden's problems, no one audited Sunland Park's test scores. Then-principal Shirley McCray, now principal at New Renaissance Middle in Miramar, wrote him a letter of recommendation last month.
School Superintendent Frank Till said last week the scores are likely the result of a grading error or tampering but plans no investigation, in part because ''one teacher is no longer with the school district,'' he said.
Till could not be reached for comment this week regarding Sunland Park, despite repeated phone calls.
Sunland Park's high 2002 FCAT scores contributed to the school's failing grade in 2003. School grades are based on achievement and improvement, and Sunland Park's sixth-graders couldn't match last year's scores.
A Herald analysis of Hadden's 32 fifth-grade students in 2001-02 shows high FCAT scores for many of his students. This year, when those children reached sixth grade, Hadden was no longer teaching, and most of those scores plunged.
School Board member Beverly Gallagher said she is upset that no one has tried to determine if they were the result of a colossal grading mistake or the result of tampering.
PRINCIPAL'S ROLE
''Principals are supposed to be analyzing their data, teacher by teacher to see how they are doing, to look for strengths and weaknesses,'' Gallagher said. ``Why did the principal not do that?''
Hadden told The Herald in two telephone interviews that he did not tamper with the FCAT and no one asked him to. He said the high FCAT scores were the result of hard work, but he did not account for the discrepancy between his students' NRT and FCAT test scores.
''There was no cheating at Sunland Park,'' he said, blaming the declines on the new school administration.
After his arrest, Hadden continued to teach for the rest of the 2001-02 school year.
McCray wrote him a positive recommendation that didn't mention his arrest and subsequent firing. McCray, who had worked with Hadden for four years, wrote that she would hire him again.
In her May 20 recommendation, McCray wrote, ``He was a very effective teacher, working with low performers. His strength is mathematics.''
The fact that McCray's recommendation letter didn't mention the arrest ''looks like deception on her part,'' board member Gallagher said.
CALLS REFERRED
McCray could not be reached despite repeated phone calls from The Herald. Her office referred all calls Friday to the school district's community relations office.
Studies have shown that FCAT scores align closely with a test called the NRT (norm-referenced test), which compares students with their peers across the country. Students take the NRT about a week after the FCAT.
NRT scores are represented as percentiles. A score of 30 means the student performed as well or better than 30 percent of students across the nation in the same grade, and that 70 percent of students nationwide scored higher.
Sunland Park's overall fifth grade had FCAT scores that diverged wildly from the NRT. In fact, no other low-performing school in Florida had scores that differed as much in the fifth grade.
HADDEN'S CLASS
The biggest discrepancies were in Hadden's class:
• One student scored in the sixth percentile of the NRT in 2002, a very low score. That means 94 percent of third-graders across the United States did better.
But the same student scored at Level 4, the second highest, on the FCAT. That level typically translates to a score of mid-80s to low 90s on the NRT.
This year, as a sixth-grader, the child's NRT score was in the eighth percentile, and his FCAT score plummeted to the lowest level.
• Another student scored in the seventh percentile of the NRT in 2002 but had a high FCAT score, at Level 4. This year, the child's NRT score was in the eighth percentile, but the FCAT score tumbled to Level 1.
• In all, not one of Hadden's 32 students in 2001-02 improved a level in the FCAT this year. Of those students, 22 saw their FCAT levels decline. Seventeen fell two or more levels -- a significant decrease.
DATA UNANALYZED
Katherine Blasik, director of research and evaluation for the school district, hadn't analyzed the data from Hadden's class.
''But when you see a pattern like that, it looks like it's artificially inflated,'' she said.
Sunland Park is the second Broward County school with suspicious FCAT scores. The state is investigating Park Ridge Elementary in Pompano Beach for alleged FCAT tampering in 2002. This year, its scores dropped drastically, and the school received an F.
Anne Dilgen, director of student assessment for the school district, said there are comprehensive rules about FCAT security.
Completed test cards are supposed to be placed in an envelope and locked up until they are delivered to school district headquarters.
Under Gov. Jeb Bush's A+ plan, schools earn cash bonuses for becoming an A school or for improving a letter grade.
A school committee decides how to spend the money, about $100 per student. Many vote for teacher and staff bonuses.
Sunland Park was a C in 2002 and 2001.
New principal Martin Reid declined to comment on what happened at Sunland Park last year, saying only that he wants to move forward.
June 24, 2003
School's FCAT scores in doubt
Sunland Park probe requested
BY STEVE HARRISON
sharrison@herald.com
Some Broward School Board members have called for a formal investigation into the possibility of FCAT fraud at Sunland Park Elementary School in the 2001-02 school year, but Schools Superintendent Frank Till -- who acknowledged that test-tampering was a possibility -- said the school district would not look back.
''I would like to see an in-depth investigation, even if it's done locally,'' said School Board chairwoman Lois Wexler. ``On the basis of last year's FCAT, we reward the principal?''
Last spring, Principal Shirley McCray was promoted from the low-income Sunland Park Elementary School, 919 NW 13th Ave., Fort Lauderdale, to New Renaissance Middle, a brand new school in Miramar. She was moved in part on the strength of Sunland's solid FCAT performance, which gave Sunland Park its second consecutive C grade.
This year, with a new principal in place, that C plummeted to an F.
McCray did not return phone calls from The Herald seeking comment Friday or Monday.
The state computes grades based on a system that awards points in six areas. Two areas were crucial for Sunland Park: The number of students reading at grade level plunged from 41 percent to 31 percent; and those making reading gains fell from 57 percent to 38 percent.
A GRADING ERROR?
Till has said a grading error could also be a possibility.
School Board member Beverly Gallagher wants testing officials to scrutinize Sunland Park's scores from 2002 and this year's FCAT scores at New Renaissance Middle School.
''We need to see what happened and then move forward,'' Gallagher said. ``If a child does really well and then very poorly, we need to know why.''
Anne Dilgen, the public school district's director of student assessment, said Monday she had not been told to review New Renaissance's 2002-03 scores.
Katherine Blasik, the district's director of research and evaluation, said she would review all schools that showed large increases or decreases in FCAT scores, and that Sunland Park would be one of the first studied. But no probe is planned to determine what caused the unusually high scores.
Till has said that one Sunland Park teacher who might have been involved in tampering had left the school district. An investigation could be too difficult, he said last week.
School district spokesman Kirk Englehardt said Wednesday there was no immediate intention of looking at Sunland Park.
''There are no hard and fast plans,'' he said.
School Board member Stephanie Kraft said she believes the school district must be fair and investigate.
She points to the case of Park Ridge Elementary School in Pompano Beach, which the state is investigating for FCAT fraud in 2002, and teacher Harriet Parets, whom the superintendent wanted to fire for allegedly coaching students on the FCAT. Parets denied doing anything wrong, and the board voted last November not to fire her, but she still was suspended without pay for 30 days, after being out of the classroom for six months.
''How can the superintendent let this go?'' asked Kraft. ``I'm very surprised we're not looking into this. We need to deal with this now and find out what happened.''
The Herald found that Sunland Park's fifth-grade reading scores in 2002 differed wildly from scores on a separate reading test, the NRT, which measures students against their peers across the country. Students take the NRT about a week after the FCAT.
• Sunland Park's NRT reading score of 34 was better than the scores of only eight Broward elementary schools. Its FCAT reading score of 280 was better than those of 64 Broward elementaries.
GREATEST DIFFERENCE
• Among 385 Florida elementaries whose fifth-graders scored below the 40th percentile in reading, Sunland Park had the greatest statistical difference between its FCAT score and its NRT score.
Sunland Park's new principal, Martin Reid, said he noticed last fall that his students' reading ability was closer to the lower NRT score.
He declined Monday to comment on what happened last year, but has said his school would be ''vindicated'' with a better FCAT performance in 2004.
From June 24, 2003
School's FCAT scores in doubt
Sunland Park probe requested
BY STEVE HARRISON
sharrison@herald.com
Some Broward School Board members have called for a formal investigation into the possibility of FCAT fraud at Sunland Park Elementary School in the 2001-02 school year, but Schools Superintendent Frank Till -- who acknowledged that test-tampering was a possibility -- said the school district would not look back.
''I would like to see an in-depth investigation, even if it's done locally,'' said School Board chairwoman Lois Wexler. ``On the basis of last year's FCAT, we reward the principal?''
Last spring, Principal Shirley McCray was promoted from the low-income Sunland Park Elementary School, 919 NW 13th Ave., Fort Lauderdale, to New Renaissance Middle, a brand new school in Miramar. She was moved in part on the strength of Sunland's solid FCAT performance, which gave Sunland Park its second consecutive C grade.
This year, with a new principal in place, that C plummeted to an F.
McCray did not return phone calls from The Herald seeking comment Friday or Monday.
The state computes grades based on a system that awards points in six areas. Two areas were crucial for Sunland Park: The number of students reading at grade level plunged from 41 percent to 31 percent; and those making reading gains fell from 57 percent to 38 percent.
A GRADING ERROR?
Till has said a grading error could also be a possibility.
School Board member Beverly Gallagher wants testing officials to scrutinize Sunland Park's scores from 2002 and this year's FCAT scores at New Renaissance Middle School.
''We need to see what happened and then move forward,'' Gallagher said. ``If a child does really well and then very poorly, we need to know why.''
Anne Dilgen, the public school district's director of student assessment, said Monday she had not been told to review New Renaissance's 2002-03 scores.
Katherine Blasik, the district's director of research and evaluation, said she would review all schools that showed large increases or decreases in FCAT scores, and that Sunland Park would be one of the first studied. But no probe is planned to determine what caused the unusually high scores.
Till has said that one Sunland Park teacher who might have been involved in tampering had left the school district. An investigation could be too difficult, he said last week.
School district spokesman Kirk Englehardt said Wednesday there was no immediate intention of looking at Sunland Park.
''There are no hard and fast plans,'' he said.
School Board member Stephanie Kraft said she believes the school district must be fair and investigate.
She points to the case of Park Ridge Elementary School in Pompano Beach, which the state is investigating for FCAT fraud in 2002, and teacher Harriet Parets, whom the superintendent wanted to fire for allegedly coaching students on the FCAT. Parets denied doing anything wrong, and the board voted last November not to fire her, but she still was suspended without pay for 30 days, after being out of the classroom for six months.
''How can the superintendent let this go?'' asked Kraft. ``I'm very surprised we're not looking into this. We need to deal with this now and find out what happened.''
The Herald found that Sunland Park's fifth-grade reading scores in 2002 differed wildly from scores on a separate reading test, the NRT, which measures students against their peers across the country. Students take the NRT about a week after the FCAT.
• Sunland Park's NRT reading score of 34 was better than the scores of only eight Broward elementary schools. Its FCAT reading score of 280 was better than those of 64 Broward elementaries.
GREATEST DIFFERENCE
• Among 385 Florida elementaries whose fifth-graders scored below the 40th percentile in reading, Sunland Park had the greatest statistical difference between its FCAT score and its NRT score.
Sunland Park's new principal, Martin Reid, said he noticed last fall that his students' reading ability was closer to the lower NRT score.
He declined Monday to comment on what happened last year, but has said his school would be ''vindicated'' with a better FCAT performance in 2004.
— Steve Harrison
High 2002 FCATs contributed to school's failing grade in 2003
Miami Herald
June 28, 2003
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/education/6189476.htm
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
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