Test police monitor school results

Every year, a small group of South Carolina Department of Education employees gathers behind closed doors to scour thousands of students' standardized test results and search for cheaters.

In an attempt to identify educators who have illegally tried to improve their class or school scores, the group hunts for classes, schools and districts with unusually high numbers of test answers that have been erased and corrected.

They haven't broadcast their mission or tactics, and even top local officials didn't know the state did this type of analysis until recently. The group of test police agreed to talk for the first time about their investigative techniques and results with The Post and Courier after it submitted a Freedom of Information Act request.

If officials find a school with a higher than average number of eraser marks, they may monitor its testing process.

At Sanders-Clyde Elementary in downtown Charleston, the unusually high wrong-to-right answer switches and improbable one-year academic gains led to scrutiny from the state and district, and eventually a State Law Enforcement Division investigation, which is ongoing.

The eraser marks at this 250-student school raised officials' eyebrows last year because:

--More than 420 answers were changed from wrong to right;

--The number of answers corrected in some classes was more than six times the state average of less than one per test; and

--It was the only school in the state red-flagged in every subject for its number of wrong answers corrected.

Testing experts say they need to keep tabs on these marks because as the standards and stakes rise for educators in South Carolina and across the nation, so does the incentive to cheat.

Twenty-nine of the state's roughly 1,100 schools popped up last year on the state's analysis for having higher-than-average numbers of eraser marks. More than one-third of states nationwide do similar analysis on student tests.

While South Carolina test police have identified numerous instances of suspected cheating, they couldn't recall an instance in which their monitors had caught an educator erasing and correcting answers.

Records weren't clear on the number of times the eraser analysis has led to criminal investigations or convictions.

"It is difficult to catch someone doing it," said Liz Jones, the state's director of assessment.

Eraser reports

State educators began looking for clues in eraser marks about two decades ago.

Joe Saunders spurred the state's exploration into this aspect of testing. He's a number-crunching expert for the state who wrote a computer program that analyzes eraser marks.

The state's testing company provides individual students' answers to every test question, including whether tests contained answer switches. A computer can tell when an answer has been erased.

Saunders' program flags districts, schools and classes that have high numbers of answer changes, and it shows whether correct or incorrect answers ultimately were chosen.

The Post and Courier obtained the state's analysis that showed more than 7,500 students' tests statewide last year had a higher-than-average number of wrong answers that were erased and corrected.

Sanders-Clyde Elementary had more wrong answers erased and corrected than any school in the state.

Some of the school's classes averaged five answers per test that were erased and corrected, compared to a state average of less than one.

Sometimes there's a good explanation for odd patterns of eraser marks, such as students skipping a question, mistakenly putting their answer in the wrong answer box, realizing the error at the end of the test and going back and changing their answers.

State officials are less concerned when they find tests where correct answers are changed to wrong ones because that would hurt test scores. They consider monitoring a school when they see repeated patterns of wrong answers being corrected.

Odd patterns of eraser marks are one reason why SLED is investigating Sanders-Clyde Elementary.

Sanders-Clyde Elementary

In 2003, MiShawna Moore became principal of the downtown, high-poverty school. It was one of the lowest-achieving schools in the county.

Moore pushed kids to excel in the classroom and took a personal role in caring for their other needs, such as food and clothes. Within a few years, Sanders-Clyde students scored significantly higher on tests than other schools with similarly disadvantaged students.

In 2005 the school's test scores shot up, and the state flagged the school for making improbable one-year academic gains. State officials decided to make an unannounced visit in the spring of 2006, but the state monitor didn't find any problems.

"(The monitor) observed that materials were properly stored, distributed and testing was under way on time," according to a 2006 letter from the state to Moore. "It was very evident that the school had a well-organized test administration plan in effect and a very professional staff devoted to children and their education."

In 2007 the school popped up on the state's analysis for its high number of eraser marks, which prompted the district to heavily monitor the school this spring.

Neither Saunders nor Jones could recall another school that was red-flagged for its eraser marks as many times as Sanders-Clyde.

"It stood out," Jones said.

After intense district supervision of the school's testing process this spring, Sanders-Clyde didn't have any unusual eraser marks. The school's test scores also fell sharply — by an average of 31 percentage points — in every subject and at every grade level.

Moore has blamed the drop in scores on district monitoring that changed students' routines and the school's climate.

She has said she doesn't have an explanation for the high number of eraser marks, and she has denied cheating or directing anyone to cheat on the test.

Test monitoring elsewhere

South Carolina is among at least 23 states that analyzes test results to identify potential cheaters, according to a national survey of states.

It has taken a couple of years to educate educators on the need for increased test security, and it's still not an oft-talked about topic because it's perceived as bad news, said Don Sorensen, vice president of marketing for Caveon Test Security, a company dedicated to test security.

The reported instances of cheating have jumped dramatically, he said, and more people are recognizing the need to spend more time on this issue since the federal No Child Left Behind act became law in 2002.

Sorensen commended South Carolina for analyzing eraser marks and said he'd rather see states doing something than nothing.

State officials plan to continue analyzing eraser reports, but Jones, the state's assessment director, said the attention on Sanders-Clyde and The Post and Courier's interest in the state's eraser analysis have prompted conversations about expanding the state's efforts to identify cheaters.

Officials are considering the possibility of letting districts know when schools have higher than normal numbers of eraser marks in an effort to share the load in catching potential educator misconduct, Jones said.

"This case has caused a lot of discussion in the office," she said.