Teachers Fired Over Cheating Allegations
Principal Reassigned, Demoted
POSTED: Thursday, February 17, 2005
UPDATED: 5:22 pm CST February 17,
2005
HOUSTON -- Two Houston Independent School District teachers will be fired for helping students cheat on a standardized test, according to Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra Thursday.
An investigation found that two fifth-grade math teachers at Sanderson Elementary School, 7115 Lockwood, helped students answer questions on the TAKS math tests on April 27, 2004. "HISD will not tolerate this kind of inappropriate behavior. It deprives children of their right to a good education," Saavedra said. "It hurts the integrity of the school, and it damages the confidence of the public in our school district. We will stop this kind of behavior wherever we find it." The school's principal has been demoted to assistant principal and will be reassigned to another school, Saavedra said. The superintendent said the investigation found no evidence the principal knew about the cheating. However, it did find the principal failed to use administrative controls.HISD determined that the TAKS math scores of two classes at the school were far higher than statistical probability.The HISD Inspector General interviewed 17 students during the investigation. Fourteen of them confirmed the inappropriate conduct by teachers, officials said, including teachers pointing to the answers and checking to make sure the test answers were accurate.The Office of the Inspector General, which was created by HISD in the wake of test score anomalies, is also investigating test scores at 22 other schools.In his State of the Schools address Wednesday, Saavedra said that cracking down on cheating was a priority for the school district, which is the largest public school system in Texas.
Copyright 2005 by Click2Houston.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
An investigation found that two fifth-grade math teachers at Sanderson Elementary School, 7115 Lockwood, helped students answer questions on the TAKS math tests on April 27, 2004. "HISD will not tolerate this kind of inappropriate behavior. It deprives children of their right to a good education," Saavedra said. "It hurts the integrity of the school, and it damages the confidence of the public in our school district. We will stop this kind of behavior wherever we find it." The school's principal has been demoted to assistant principal and will be reassigned to another school, Saavedra said. The superintendent said the investigation found no evidence the principal knew about the cheating. However, it did find the principal failed to use administrative controls.HISD determined that the TAKS math scores of two classes at the school were far higher than statistical probability.The HISD Inspector General interviewed 17 students during the investigation. Fourteen of them confirmed the inappropriate conduct by teachers, officials said, including teachers pointing to the answers and checking to make sure the test answers were accurate.The Office of the Inspector General, which was created by HISD in the wake of test score anomalies, is also investigating test scores at 22 other schools.In his State of the Schools address Wednesday, Saavedra said that cracking down on cheating was a priority for the school district, which is the largest public school system in Texas. Copyright 2005 by Click2Houston.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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