THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 18, 1996 TAG: 9606180295
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 83 lines
The school district administration disciplined seven I.C. Norcom High staffers for allegedly contributing to a standardized testing breach at the school this spring.
It didn't stop there in its effort to clean up the scandal as the school year came to a close.
The administration told all schools to ditch practice tests used to prepare students for annual standardized exams.
From now on, the administration said, only practice material approved by the state Education Department may be used.
Those who attend future training sessions on administering standardized tests also will be required to sign forms indicating they were made aware of guidelines.
And the district may soon adopt some sort of ``code of ethics'' for city educators, Superintendent Richard D. Trumble said.
Late last week, Trumble confirmed that the steps had been taken not only to reassure the public, but also to drive home the point that the central office wouldn't tolerate unethical behavior by those tempted to boost scores at any cost.
Will they do the trick?
``We certainly hope so,'' Trumble said.
Portsmouth has long been test-conscious. School-improvement teams, for instance, come up with annual plans to improve performance, as well as test scores themselves.
The breach at Norcom was the third ``testing irregularity'' Portsmouth reported to the state in Trumble's six-year tenure.
Gail Cunningham, executive director of the Portsmouth Education Association, said the administration's moves ``certainly won't hurt.''
This school year, a Norcom teacher obtained from an ``outside source'' the standardized exam for Virginia's 11th-graders - or parts of it - and circulated the information among colleagues, the administration reported.
Several 11th-grade teachers were later told by someone ``in a position of authority'' at Norcom to review some of the test questions with juniors before they were scheduled to take the March exam, Trumble said.
He would only say that the person who gave the order was not an ``administrator.''
At least one of the teachers felt uncomfortable.
That teacher reported concerns to a Norcom administrator, who informed the central office.
In a March letter to the state Education Department, the administration said four teachers involved indicated they didn't know they had been given questions from the exam - known as the Tests of Achievement and Proficiency.
The letter, required under such circumstances, also suggests that the person who originally brought the material to school thought it was a ``practice test.''
In the end, the administration didn't buy their stories.
``We, in fact, believe people knew what they had and knew who they had received it from,'' Trumble said.
After its investigation, the administration sent three Norcom staffers ``letters of reprimand'' for their actions, he said.
Such a letter may lead to workers being transferred, fired or receiving a pay cut, Trumble said.
Four others received ``letters of instruction,'' spelling out how the district believed they should have handled things.
The whistleblower received a ``letter of commendation'' for doing the right thing, Trumble said.
The letters typically become part of personnel files.
The district has declined to name those involved, citing confidentiality laws.
Norcom Principal DeWayne Jeter didn't return calls over the past several days.
This spring, Norcom's juniors took two sections of the test from an entirely different form.
The two sections - reading comprehension and written expression - are the only ones believed to have been compromised, the administration said.
Sixteen-year-old Kim Jackson, who will be a Norcom senior this fall, said she didn't believe teachers would have purposely broken rules.
``I don't think they meant to do it,'' she said.
In overall results, Norcom's juniors performed below peers at the district's other high schools this year, 1996 test scores show.
KEYWORDS: STANDARDIZED TESTING SCHOOLS TIDEWATER
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