Test coaching compared to ‘cheating at solitaire’

Terry Webster

Wednesday, June 28, 2000 | 11:29 a.m.

Cheating on standardized tests is "like cheating at solitaire," a spokesman for the publisher of the TerraNova exam said today.

The comment follows in the wake of a Clark County School District testing scandal that unfolded earlier this week when a teacher produced a copy of the fourth grade TerraNova booklet.

Ramona Johnson, a former fourth grade teacher at Robert E. Lake Elementary School, is alleging the booklets were used in an attempt to bolster testing scores.

Johnson also points out that scores on Lake Elementary's third grade CBAP exam were so high, they don't mesh with the low scores her students received on the fourth grade TerraNova. Johnson's statements are backed up by school reports listing her students and their scores.

Today Johnson called for other teachers to come forward.

"I am challenging every teacher out there in Clark County, or any other county, who has or has not yet become the victim of these types of injustices or discrediting tactics, to throw away their fear and give themselves the opportunity to 'live up to the very ethics' that were created by this system, by coming forward and joining hands with me in this campaign to make positive changes in the system," Johnson said.

School district officials are denying allegations of cheating on the TerraNova, but are continuing to investigate. School officials said the scope of their probe includes comparing test scores and interviewing teachers at the school.

Any release of the booklets is cause for alarm for his firm and the school district, said Micheal Kean, a spokesman for CTB McGraw-Hill in Monterey, Calif.

But ultimately, the most damage is done to the district and the students taking the test, he said.

"If it were being used to create drill and practice, that would be like cheating at solitaire," Kean said. "If the test is being distributed, that is clearly inappropriate. There are very explicit guidelines for what is appropriate and inappropriate for handling the test."

The TerraNova is a nationally normed standardized test designed to reflect material typically taught at certain grade levels. The CBAP, by contrast, measures how well students know the district's curriculum.

"If you look at third grade reading, the language arts and mathematics, there is not a great deal of variation in what is being taught," said Kean.

Aside from potential copyright issues, CTB McGraw-Hill is concerned about the test's validity.

"First and foremost, we are for good measure," Kean said.

School Board member Shirley Barber said talk of the distribution of testing materials has been "going on for several years" in the district.

"I have been getting input from people who were asking who sees the test and how it gets out," Barber said. "I've brought this up in a number of meetings and for the most part I feel this has been ignored. I have a lot of concerns about the security and the validity of the test. We really need to look at testing and tighten it up."

But Barber, a retired Clark County School District principal, was sympathetic to the pressures being put on educators.

Listing who does the best -- and the worst -- on testing creates pressure, So does labeling on schools as being "in need of improvement," she said.

"A lot of this is being put on the principals," Barber said. "What about the area superintendents and the assistant superintendents? Everyone is responsible."