State considers more cheating probes
A state investigation into potential cheating at a Clarksdale elementary school could be the first of many such probes by the Mississippi Department of Education as it confronts testing irregularities statewide.
State Superintendent of Education Carey Wright said Monday she's considering other investigations into schools whose statewide assessment scores raised red flags. Although she didn't mention specific sites, she said it's a decision the state will make jointly with Caveon Test Security.
"When we get done with Clarksdale, we might have to add another investigation," Wright said. "We're already looking at other areas of the state."
MDE hired Caveon in May after a Clarion-Ledger investigation revealed claims of widespread cheating at Heidelberg Elementary School in Clarksdale based on highly irregular test scores and interviews with both teachers and students.
Caveon's contract ended Monday, but the investigation hasn't yet concluded. It should be finished by the time classes resume in August, Wright said, adding that no stone will be left unturned.
The superintendent made her remarks during an Education Summit at the Capitol, where legislators grilled her about recent cheating allegations and how the agency responded to them.
"If The Clarion-Ledger had not investigated, it looks like Clarksdale would have been swept under the rug," said state Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven.
Currie also referenced Sunday's Clarion-Ledger, which published its five-year statewide analysis listing dozens of other schools that also have had irregular test scores and which cited national testing experts criticizing the state's current oversight strategy.
"I take test violations very seriously," Wright responded, adding that educators could face licensure and job loss if the cheating allegations prove true.
They should face fines and jail time, too, said House Education Committee Chair John Moore, R-Brandon, who supports legislation requiring severe punishment for educators who intentionally violate testing protocol.
"This is absolute fraud," Moore said, because it denies students the right to accurate academic performance indicators and it swindles taxpayers who fund the public school system.
But educators shouldn't bear all the blame, said state Rep. Chuck Espy, D-Clarksdale, who argued that teachers face enormous pressure to raise test scores at all costs and may feel coerced into cheating by an unfair system.
"The measure of a great teacher is not a test, but their jobs are based solely on the QDI and the MCT," Espy said, referring to the Quality Distribution Index and the Mississippi Curriculum Test, both of which determine a school's accountability rating — and, sometimes, a teacher's job security.
Espy said he'll work with other legislators this summer to develop a plan addressing those concerns, which he said exist more strongly in the Delta because of its lower socioeconomic status.
The Clarion-Ledger's investigation found that most test score irregularities occur in low-income areas and are especially prevalent in the Delta. National and local education experts said that's typical.
Educators enjoy greater job security when their students score top marks, said Bob Schaeffer, public education director for the National Center for Fair & Open Testing. But that's almost impossible to achieve in disadvantaged communities whose children regularly confront poverty, crime, drugs and teen pregnancy.
To avoid the consequences of consecutive failure, he said, educators in these schools sometimes feel compelled to help students cheat more so than their peers in wealthier districts.
"In the Delta, a teacher's job description is totally different than that of a teacher in another part of the state," Espy said. "Maybe we need to put someone in the Department of Education who identifies with that and sympathizes with that."
Contact Emily Le Coz at elecoz@jackson.gannett.com or (601) 961-7249. Follow @emily_lecoz on Twitter.