BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A Jefferson Parish middle school threw out 145 of its students’ state standardized LEAP tests in the 2015-16 school year, the highest number of tests tossed at a single school.
Those were among the findings of the state education department’s annual testing irregularity report, presented to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education at its monthly meeting.
Overall, 186 Louisiana schools voided 885 tests, a smaller number than the 1,271 tests voided the year before.
Superintendent of Education John White says the instances include both “administrative error and malfeasance.” But he says the decline in voided tests show that increased training, movement of testing administration online and inspector general’s investigations are working.
Jefferson Parish school spokeswoman Elizabeth Branley told NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune (https://bit.ly/2kajHYn) that Gretna Middle School threw out 145 LEAP tests because some students got accommodations they did not need. Branley said the district’s investigation found an unintentional mistake, an error in coding.
Every year, Louisiana public school and voucher students take a battery of standardized tests. The results determine whether some students advance, graduate or are eligible for TOPS financial assistance for college.
If anyone violates any security procedure before, during or after the test is administered, the results are invalidated. Violations can be anything from an error in giving directions to concerted cheating.
For the most part, the state does not specify what went wrong in its report. In the vast majority of cases, districts and charter groups discovered the problem themselves. That’s what happened with the Jefferson Parish schools, according to Branley and the report.
The state catches some problems through mechanical analysis. The state also hired test security consultants to review its policies and procedures.
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Information from: The Times-Picayune, https://www.nola.com
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