Seattle Schools Community Forum

Basically, the district can't figure out who did it but someone did tamper with tests. The press release mentions security measures taken since then which is great except that now they don't do paper and pencil testing. And naturally, there is no mention of the principal. This is a key issue because the principal is the head of any school building. The investigation had revealed some comings and goings at the school that seemed odd; isn't the principal responsible to answer for those? It's understandable if there simply was not enough evidence to say who did what. But that doesn't mean there wasn't evidence that there was sloppy oversight of the test booklets. They do know who was responsible for that and yet that gets left out of the investigation. From SPS Communications:

Final Investigation Report (redacted) on Beacon Hill International School Spring 2014 test booklet issues.

As you may recall, the District had started a six-month investigation of test-tampering at Beacon Hill International School and the investigator could not discern who did it. OSPI had found mass eraser marks in a large number of test booklets.   (The District says this can't happen in the future because testing will all be on computer.) The District did put Principal Po Tang and a teacher, Judy Eng, on leave because the District believed they were part of those who did break the testing rules.  (The associate principal, Michele Nishioka, left the District.) However, it has come to my attention - via public disclosure documents - that the District didn't conduct one investigation.  Here's what Barbara Nahouraii, Senior Human Resources Analyst, said yesterday (bold mine):

Update: the district sent me a press release later in the day that I just read.

Update One comes from the Charter Commission which, according to the Times , has rejected the plan that First Place charter school, created in light of issues discovered in the management and running of the school. The plan from First Place, which has floundered  since opening in September , was deficient in some key areas and not submitted on time, said Joshua Halsey, the commission’s executive director. As a result, Halsey said he didn’t have enough time to review it. Now begins a round of stricter negotiations, where Halsey will detail what changes First Place must complete or face losing its charter. “The next step is to go over (the corrective action plan),” Halsey said. “It will become more prescriptive, as opposed to the school having the ability to pick the plan and how they’re going to go about that.” Update Two is that the district has hired a handwriting expert to uncovered who may have altered many test booklets at Beacon Hill International School last ...

The Times has a fairly in-depth story about the Beacon Hill cheating incident. In most cases, it appears someone changed answers from wrong to right on the 20 to 25 multiple-choice questions that make up part of the reading and math exams. But on question No. 3 of the third-grade reading section, the pattern was just the reverse. Four of every five responses on that item were erased and changed to the wrong answer — a bizarre blip in what otherwise looked like an across-the-board attempt to help students get more answers right. Very odd. Did someone get tired? Mixed-up?