Posted on 06/19/2002 2:11:05 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
SUGAR LAND -- Two administrators at George Bush High School have resigned amid allegations that student records were manipulated to improve the school's rating on the TAAS test.
Jean Bailey, the school's dean of instruction and TAAS coordinator, and principal David M. Baker resigned before the Fort Bend school district's investigation was completed, district officials said Tuesday.
District spokeswoman Mary Ann Simpson said the pair would have been fired had they not quit.
"We were outraged when we learned of this," Simpson said.
The district began investigating in March after receiving an anonymous letter with detailed allegations about a scheme to improve the school's chances for a high rating in the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, which students had taken the previous month.
The investigative team, led by the school system's attorney, Bernadette Gonzalez, and the director of testing and evaluation, Kathy Aaron, interviewed 21 employees, including Bailey and Baker, as well as four students, officials said.
Although the probe found numerous violations of local and state education policies and rules, investigators said they found no evidence of cheating or tampering with test answers. Their final report was issued earlier this month.
The report states that "a preponderance of evidence suggests" that Bailey, 50, violated district policies and procedures, Texas Education Agency rules and TAAS rules and procedures.
Simpson said that, to achieve an "exemplary" rating on the test, Bailey kept some students who might not score well from taking it. She also voided the test scores of others, Simpson said.
The report criticized Baker, 54, for failing to monitor Bailey's activities sufficiently.
Bailey and Baker could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Among their findings, the investigators reported that the school registrar told Bailey in January that 15 students who had been considered exempt from the test would be required to take it after all.
Only three took the test, however, investigators said.
Also, the report states, Bailey reviewed the answer sheets of another 24 students, improperly voided some and directed her secretary to void others.
The panel also said that three students who were receiving English as a Second Language services were improperly exempted, even though they were not recent immigrants and were supposed to take the test.
Additionally, the report states, Bailey violated the state education agency's rules when she ordered a custodian to discard a stack of TAAS booklets he had found near a trash can.
Investigators also said the answer sheets for 20 10th-graders were changed to portray them as 11th-graders.
The school's state rating is based only on the scores of 10th-graders. "The accountability rating for Bush High School will be, therefore, inaccurate," investigators said.
They concluded that Bailey intentionally manipulated the grade levels of dozens of students to improve the school's chances for obtaining an exemplary rating.
"One witness reported that when he told Bailey about his concerns that she was violating TEA and TAAS rules and regulations, Bailey is alleged to have said she didn't care," the report states. "She is alleged to have told witnesses that she would hang the reprimand from TEA alongside the certificate showing that Bush High School had achieved exemplary rating."
Simpson said it will be up to the Texas Education Agency to decide whether the school's TAAS rating will be affected.
"We don't think they will punish the entire campus due to the unethical behavior of two administrators," she said.
She added that it is impossible to determine what the rating would have been had the tests been administered correctly.
About 430 10th-graders were present on the three days of testing, but only 392 took the test, officials said.
Students who did not take the exams will have several opportunities in the next two years to take the tests before graduating.
Bailey was a teacher for 21 years and worked in the Brazosport school district before coming to the Fort Bend system in April 2000, district officials said.
Baker joined the district two years ago after working in the Lubbock school district.
When the probe began, Baker was reassigned to the athletic department and Bailey was placed on administrative leave.
No other school officials were investigated, Simpson said, and no others are suspected. Neither are any teachers or students suspected, she said.
Adrienne Sobolak, spokeswoman for the state education agency, said the investigative report is still under review.
Sobolak said local educators sometimes feel intense pressure to produce high TAAS scores.
"I can speculate that they were feeling so much internal pressure for whatever reason that they lost sight of the purpose of the test."
She said criminal charges could be filed if it is found that TAAS documents were tampered with.
State law prohibits altering or tampering with official documents, Sobolak said, and TAAS booklets and answer sheets are state property.
In 1999, a principal in the Houston school district and one in Fort Bend County resigned after allegations of tampering with student answers on the TAAS.
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