TEA clears Newton of cheating
By JIMMY GALVAN

It may have been an early Christmas present for Newton High School but Superintendent Gene Isabell knew the contents of the present before it arrived Thursday, Dec. 14.

Texas Education Agency officials cleared Newton High School of any wrongdoing during an investigation into testing irregularities on the 2005 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test.

“I wasn’t very upset with it to begin with,” Isabell said. “I knew we weren’t doing any cheating or anything else. It was just one of those things we had to go through sometimes.”

Newton was one of 592 campuses that the agency had flagged earlier this year as having data anomalies during the 2005 testing period.

“I was shocked when the announcement came out to begin with,” Isabell said. “We have very clear procedures as far as testing program is concerned.

“We have two professionals in each classroom with kids divided into small groups scattered all over the school,” Isabell said. “I know we were properly trained and I felt reasonably sure there was no inappropriate activity going on to begin with but they needed us to go back and review the whole process. I just felt it was impossible for any of our kids to be cheating.”

Schools were flagged by the Caveon Test Security if the firm’s review found:

tan unusual response pattern;

t a large score gain;

t a statistically unusual number of erasures or very similar test responses, such as correctly answering hard questions while missing easy questions.

Isabell said the main area that TEA was investigating was the science high school tests.

“The scenario was that several kids had the wrong answers on the questions,” Isabell said. “When we went back and broke it out, it was impossible for them to get the wrong answers from each other because they were in different classrooms with teachers monitoring them in each classroom.”

Isabell said TEA was also concerned about text messaging during the tests as well.

With the clearance from the TEA, Newton High School teachers are now eligible to apply for $1.4 million available for area teachers.

“It is imperative that Texans trust our test results and have confidence that they are valid and reliable,” Texas Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley stated in a press release. “It is important to remember that there was never even a hint of doubt about the test results at more than 91 percent of our schools. I hope we have restored the public’s confidence in a number of additional schools. This has been a painful process but I believe the results are confirming that the vast majority of Texas educators and schools operate with a high degree of integrity.”