25 Feb 2005
Groppel: No Evidence Of Widespread Cheating In District Schools
DALLAS—Three fourth-grade teachers at Harrell Budd Elementary School are facing possible termination, while a fourth, who retired in 2004 and has been consulting with the school, will have her contract terminated as a result of an investigation into alleged TAKS cheating, Dallas Independent School District Interim Superintendent Larry Groppel said Friday.
"We have taken this situation seriously and are moving to terminate three employees from the district, while canceling a consulting contract with the fourth," Groppel said. "We want to send a clear message that cheating is not going to be tolerated in this district."
Thirty-four other schools cited by numerous reports in The Dallas Morning News were cleared of any potential testing irregularities by statistical analyses that will be reported to the Texas Education Agency, Groppel said.
"We have completed an inquiry into potential cheating on the 2003-04 TAKS test as noted by The Dallas Morning News, and found only one grade in one school out of 35 schools mentioned by the paper as having testing irregularities," Groppel said. "Contrary to the news reports, there is no evidence of widespread cheating in district schools."
The superintendent said the district reviewed data from the 2003-04 TAKS tests and from other tests administered from the 2002-03 school year to the present. The district also reviewed student- specific data at the schools identified.
The superintendent said staff from Research and Evaluation, the district's Legal Office, and Employee Relations have spent two months investigating the allegations posed by The Dallas Morning News. The superintendent said he was troubled by the negative impact the story has had.
"These negative stories about Texas school districts have been widespread—from AP wire stories to references on the CNN, ABC News, and the USA Today Web sites," Groppel said. "After a closer analysis, it appears the paper's assertion of pervasive cheating is overstated. In the meantime, this district and many others across Texas have taken a major hit on their integrity."
Groppel said the district had interviewed 37 students at Budd who were in classes where questionable results were found. Teachers at the school in the 2003-04 school year and 2004-05 school year also were questioned. The questionable results at Harrell Budd Elementary appear to be limited to one grade level and involve four teachers employed at the school last year, he said.
"We have concluded that there were violations of testing procedures and protocol by the four teachers in question," Groppel said. "We do not believe the irregularities extend to other grade levels, nor do we have reason to believe that the school administration was involved in any testing improprieties."
Groppel said there does not appear to have been any cheating on TAKS at Margaret B. Henderson Elementary, another school specifically cited by the paper.