OSSE Releases DC CAS Investigation Results

By Naomi DeVeaux

DC’s state education agency, OSSE, released the results of their annual testing integrity study.  This study examined testing irregularities at all public and public charter schools on the final year of the statewide assessment, the DC CAS.

The investigation’s findings placed school violations in three categories: 1) critical, which includes test tampering or academic fraud; 2) moderate, which includes improperly returning secure test materials; and 3) minor, with procedural inconsistences. 

The report defines irregularities as allowing students to view or practice secure test items before the scheduled testing time and inconsistent sign-in/sign-out process for secure test materials.  Flagged irregularities were followed up by on-site investigations and interviews, leading to final determinations.

The study found that two public charter schools had critical violations, one public charter school had a moderate violation that did not involve cheating, and five public charter schools had minor procedural or documentation errors. 

The two public charter schools with critical violations were Center City Capitol Hill PCS and Paul PCS – Middle School. 

DC PCSB takes this issue very seriously, as we are responsible for academic oversight and legal compliance of our public charter schools. DC PCSB monitors schools during testing. In 2014, we monitored 7 schools:  Potomac Lighthouse PCS, Friendship PCS – Tech Prep, Capital City PCS – High School, Tree of Life PCS, Cesar Chavez PCS – Capitol Hill, Mary McLeod Bethune Day Academy PCS, National Collegiate PCS. During this year’s testing window we are coordinating our test monitoring with OSSE to ensure even broader testing oversight.  

DCPCSB’s approach with the affected schools is initially to reach out to those schools’ boards of trustees to learn what steps they are taking to address the violations and to ensure that these steps are commensurate with the gravity of the violation. Then, as DCPCSB deems appropriate, we may take additional action.  We anticipate addressing this issue publicly at our board meeting.

Beyond these specific cases, there are common-sense steps schools can take to reduce the likelihood of test violations in a single testing group.  These include having a different test monitor than the person who normally teaches this class.  We will be sending a memo to our schools in the coming days outlining such recommended steps.

The DC CAS is at the heart of our accountability systems.  More and more schools use it as part of their teacher evaluations.  And it provides important feedback to students, their families, and their educators on their progress.  There is nothing more important than ensuring that these test results are accurate and free of cheating.  We commend OSSE for their thorough work on this and look forward to a day where these issues are even rarer than they are now.

Naomi Rubin DeVeaux is the Deputy Director at the DC Public Charter School Board. She leads the School Performance Department, which is made of up of four teams that are responsible for the development and implementation of qualitative and quantitative tools to evaluate DC’s public charter schools. 

Majority of violations considered minor errors.