Free Republic

PITTSBURGH -- The Pennsylvania Department of Education is looking into a newly surfaced report indicating possible cheating on state standardized tests. The data forensics report examines results of the 2009 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, or PSSA. The annual tests measure math and reading skills in students statewide. The report flags exam scores in about 35 districts, plus some charter schools. It does not assert cheating occurred, but says that certain answer patterns and erasures make the results suspicious.

A 10-year-old Westmoreland County boy "playing school" cracked the tight security surrounding Pennsylvania's standardized assessment tests by obtaining the codes to place an online order for a box of the closely guarded exams. State Education Department officials were shocked by the events involving the student, a fifth-grader at Bovard Elementary School in the Hempfield Area School District. "We've never had a security breach of that nature," Education Department spokeswoman Leah Harris said. "Only the school district's test coordinator can order tests. It's a very secure system." But Rebecca Costello, director of pupil services at Hempfield, confirmed the student simply faxed...

A 10-year-old Westmoreland County boy "playing school" cracked the tight security surrounding Pennsylvania's standardized assessment tests by obtaining the codes to place an online order for a box of the closely guarded exams. State Education Department officials were shocked by the events involving the student, a fifth-grader at Bovard Elementary School in the Hempfield Area School District.