Teachers fire back as new allegations emerge

Terry Webster

Monday, July 3, 2000 | 11:54 a.m.

As a group of Robert E. Lake Elementary teachers rally against her, a former fourth grade teacher is now alleging she witnessed cheating on standardized tests in her own classroom last year.

Ramona Johnson, who resigned in June from her teaching position at Lake Elementary, said a classroom proctor gave her students answers on the fourth grade Curriculum-Based Assessment Program (CBAP) exam.

The CBAP is a Clark County School District exam designed to measure how well students are learning what they are being taught through the district's curriculum.

Classroom proctors are used to ensure that the integrity of testing is preserved.

Johnson alleges the proctor in her class, a Lake Elementary employee, instead wrote answers on the chalkboard and verbally gave students answers after they raised their hands with questions.

"I remember thinking, 'Whoa, they are not taking testing very seriously here,' " Johnson said. "He was giving them hints during the test and in essence was giving them the answers. I told him (the proctor) that we are not supposed to be giving students the answers. He asked me if I wanted to leave the classroom for a little break."

The incident happened at the end of the 1999 school year, during the final CBAP exam, Johnson said.

"I thought maybe the rules had changed," said Johnson, who was at Lake Elementary for nearly two years. She has several years of teaching experience in the Clark County School District.

When asked why she had not brought forth the information sooner, Johnson said talking with students triggered the memory.

"As time goes on, more and more of this stuff is being triggered," Johnson said. "Hearing the kids talking about it brought back the memory. The more they talk about it, the more I start to remember. At the time it happened, I didn't have the facts that I have now. Plus, I didn't have the data to support it."

A former Lake Elementary student also said her class fudged the end-of-the-year CBAP exam in the fifth grade.

"The teacher gave us back the test, as if no one was going to cheat," said the student, whose name is not being used to protect her identity. "Then they would go over it and say, 'OK, the answer to this question was this.' Most of the kids changed the answers. It was just plain ignorant. Basically, everybody got 100. Even the kids who were stupid got really high marks."

The student talked with the Sun during a weekend pool party held in honor of Johnson that was attended by about 20 children and several parents.

"We wanted to give the children some closure on the recent events," parent Miriam Dame said.

A school district investigation remains under way, with school officials firmly maintaining there appears to be no cheating on the TerraNova exam. The TerraNova measures basic skills students are expected to have at a certain grade level.

Johnson has accused the district of allowing test coaching by releasing of the TerraNova booklet. She has produced a booklet, along with the claim that another teacher gave it to her.

The Nevada Department of Education also is expected to investigate.

Meanwhile, angry teachers at Lake Elementary vehemently denied Johnson's allegations. About 15 teachers and three parents said during a Friday meeting that Johnson has damaged the school's reputation and no one at the school has ever advocated cheating on any tests.

Teacher Curtis Funk said the meeting was planned without input from Principal Alma Vining, who did not attend.

"We wanted to do this," he said.

Funk and teacher Barbara Lees both said the school's policy on cheating is simple: Don't even think about it.

"Alma has always told us, 'Do not cheat on tests,' " Lees said. "She has said that in faculty and grade level meetings. We have been told that if we cheat we could lose our licenses."

Funk said he is confident that will not happen at Lake Elementary.

"No one here is worried about losing their license," he said. "This is a bunch of crap."

Some of the teachers made personal attacks against Johnson, pointing to "information in her personnel file," without saying how they got that information.

Teachers said they enjoy working at Lake Elementary, an "at-risk" school. They said negative media reports have deeply hurt the staff, because they are dedicated to helping the children.

"We stay here because we want to," teacher Dot Winter said. "This is where we are needed."

"I've had children ask if we are cheating on tests," Funk said. "I told them we aren't."

Parent Brian Lawrence said he has had questions about testing and the teachers were very helpful in providing explanations. Two other parents said they feel their children receive an outstanding education at Lake Elementary.

Additionally, teachers said they felt fully supported by the school's administration. Yet they also said they filed a grievance over the use of test scores in job performance evaluations.

For example, the fourth grade TerraNova test is administered at the beginning of the school year. That isn't fair, teachers said, because the test covers fourth grade material and they are being judged for the performance of students they have worked with for only a few weeks.

School district officials have repeatedly said there appears to have been no cheating on the TerraNova test, because the scores are so low. They are continuing to investigate all of the allegations.

In her analysis, Johnson compared the third grade CBAP scores of her students to their fourth grade TerraNova scores. In her analysis of the same 18 students, the CBAP scores were high -- in many cases a perfect 100 -- while the TerraNova scores were as low as 20. Johnson has displayed school records to make her point.

Lake Elementary teachers said differences in performance are likely because the TerraNova is timed and the CBAP is not.

Terry Webster

covers education for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-4091 or by e-mail at terry@lasvegassun.com.

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