School district calls test cheating a small number

Terry Webster

Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000 | 10:55 a.m.

During the past three years there has been no systemic breach of security in the administration of achievement tests in the Clark County schools, a report obtained by the Sun shows.

Thirty-four incidents have been documented since the 1997-98 school year and each have been investigated and new procedures are in place to reduce even that relatively low figure, school district spokeswoman Mary Stanley Larsen said.

"We emphasize that the district does not tolerate cheating by staff members or students," Larsen said. "While we prefer there would be no cheating, the small number of incidents show that most staff and students are honest, and they do the right thing."

Larsen said as many as a half-million tests are administered each year within the district, which, with 231,000 students, is the nation's sixth largest.

The Las Vegas Sun requested the three-year summary report in November, in light of the Legislative Committee on Education's investigation into cheating allegations. The district released its report to the Sun on Tuesday. The commission's investigation stems from allegations made in June by a former elementary teacher.

A total of 122 missing booklets for standardized tests are listed in the report. The booklets are guarded by the school district so that students will be assured of seeing the tests for the first time when they sit down to take them.

Most of the missing booklets stem from an incident last year when 105 Nevada High School Proficiency Exam math booklets disappeared after testing at the Southern Nevada Vocational Technical Center.

The report says the booklets were either lost or misplaced after testing or during their return to the storage warehouse.

"Extensive searching of both the school and the warehouse failed to turn them up," the report reads. "No disciplinary action was taken."

This year, the district reported four security breaches on the TerraNova and one on the High School Proficiency Exam.

Practice materials that were actually part of the math portion of the TerraNova exam were used with some students and were circulated among math teachers at Western High School, the report states. The investigation is still continuing.

According to the report, standardized testing conditions were not followed at Ferron Elementary School during the math portion of the TerraNova. A joint investigation by the district and the Nevada Department of Education led to the invalidation of student scores.

Stacks of documents subpoenaed from the school district relating to the High School Proficiency Exam, TerraNova exam and the Curriculum-based Assessment Program, the district's internal exam, are still under review by the Legislative Committee on Education, committee chairman and Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, said.

During the 1999-2000 school year, 14 incidents were reported. Several of the incidents involved students stealing test booklets and booklets being lost.

Some of those incidents were:

Twelve incidents were reported during 1998-99.

At Rancho High School, two test booklets were lost, but later returned. The state investigated, but did not take disciplinary action.

Another incident involved two Horizon schools.

According to the report, a teacher at Horizon Satellite copied a High School Proficiency Exam math booklet and used the copy to coach students for the test. The copied test also was provided to personnel at Horizon West, and some students used the materials.

Following a state investigation, two teachers at Horizon Satellite were disciplined. No disciplinary action was taken at Horizon West.