Legislative panel issues subpoenas for testing documents

Terry Webster

Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2000 | 11:07 a.m.

The Legislative Committee on Education has stepped up its investigation into test cheating allegations in the Clark County School District by issuing subpoenas for testing documents.

Subpoenas were served Monday on Clark County School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia and Nevada Department of Education Superintendent Mary Peterson, said Assemblyman and committee chairman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas.

The subpoenas order the two officials to produce documents for all allegations or incidents of breaches in test security, confidentiality of exam questions and answers, and any other irregularities in test security for the TerraNova exam, Nevada High School Proficiency Exam and Curriculum Based Assessment Program from 1997 through 2000.

Personnel files and test scores will be included, said Williams.

"We want to have the reports before the committee members so they can review them and ask any questions," Williams said. "In my opinion, the district has not been as open with the information as it should have been."

He added that the committee requested information relating to test security from the state back in 1997 and never received it.

"We want to open some things up, and the subpoenas will definitely do that," Williams said.

The school district and the state have to produce the documentation on or before 10 a.m. Monday for the committee's next meeting.

Williams said more meetings and information requests on test security issues will probably be needed.

School district attorney William Hoffman said the district will comply with the subpoena and is in the process of preparing the documentation.

Judy Costa, the district's director of testing and evaluation, is expected to speak before the Legislative Committee on Education Monday, Hoffman said.

Williams began asking questions about testing security in July, following allegations raised by a former Lake Elementary teacher.

According to Ramona Johnson, she was directed by school staff to use the fourth grade TerraNova booklet to teach the test. The state uses scores from the TerraNova, which is given in grades 4, 8 and 10, to rate school performance. Schools that score below a certain level are placed on a list and labeled as needing improvement.

Johnson also said she compared the results of the fourth grade TerraNova scores to the third grade curriculum test and determined the curriculum test scores were inflated.

Johnson publicly displayed a copy of the TerraNova booklet, then gave it to Williams during a press conference.

In October, former students from Rancho and Horizon North high schools said students were given access to answer sheets for the Nevada High School Proficiency Exam and that teachers assisted students during the exam. Students must pass the exam in order to earn a high school diploma.

School Board candidate Beatrice Turner last week said a school official offered her $400 for the exam and answers to the Nevada High School Proficiency Exam. Turner said she is planning to release the name of the official Wednesday morning.

School officials have said they are investigating all of the allegations and that the district has a zero tolerance policy toward cheating.