Tighten Test Security, Scores Fall

Perhaps there is a pattern here...........

Scores fall for some D.C. schools amid test security questions

By Nick Anderson, Published: August 2

Reading and math scores on citywide tests fell this year in several D.C. schools that came under scrutiny for potential security breaches in the previous year’s exams, according to data made public Tuesday.

In a few cases, the plunge recorded through the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System was especially stark.

At Noyes Education Campus in Northeast Washington, the pass rate in reading dropped more than 25 percentage points, to 32 percent, and the pass rate in math dropped more than 20 points, to 28 percent.

Noyes was one of three schools for which some 2010 scores were invalidated in May after an investigation found evidence or strong suspicion of cheating.

The two others were Leckie Elementary in Southwest and C.W. Harris Elementary in Southeast. At Leckie, pass rates slid slightly this year in both subjects. At C.W. Harris, there was a two-point uptick in the reading pass rate, to 21 percent, and an eight-point drop in math, to 8 percent.

Test scores can rise and fall from year to year for various reasons, including teacher and student turnover. What is unclear is whether heightened test security this year played a role in changing results at those three schools or others where student answer sheets from years past have shown unusually high rates of erasures. Experts track erasure rates to flag classrooms and schools where cheating may have occurred, with adults switching or helping to switch answers from wrong to right.

Questions about test security have arisen this year in Atlanta, Washington, Baltimore and elsewhere. D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson, who has repeatedly expressed confidence in the city’s testing program, was not available Tuesday to comment.

Tamara Reavis, director of assessment and accountability for the office of the state superintendent of education, said D.C. officials are still analyzing the results. But she added that test security was strengthened this year. “We do feel the security for 2011 was superior,” she said, “and we stand by the validity of these results.”

Last month, D.C. officials released citywide summaries of test results that showed mostly flat achievement trends compared with 2010 in much of the school system, while scores for independent public charter schools showed modest gains. Tuesday’s release from the state superintendent’s office provided a detailed look at scores for each school.

Results are used to rate schools and are a factor in teacher evaluations.

A Washington Post review of data on 11 schools in which some classrooms were flagged for high erasure rates on 2010 tests found that scores declined this year in several. There were double-digit drops in pass rates for reading and math at J.O. Wilson Elementary and LaSalle-Backus Education Campus, both in Northeast Washington, and at Whittier Education Campus in Northwest.

But the trend was not uniform. Among the 11 schools, pass rates in math rose nine points at Plummer Elementary in Southeast, to 36 percent, and five points at Truesdell Education Campus in Northwest, to 42 percent.

Staff writer Bill Turque contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/scores-fall-for-some-dc-schools-amid-test-security-questions/2011/08/02/gIQA8KSArI_print.html

Trash Tickets

About time........

D.C.'s trash police getting picky on ticketing

By: Freeman Klopott | Examiner Staff Writer Follow Him @FKlopott | 08/01/11 8:05 PM

Residents and business owners in some of the District's wealthiest neighborhoods are outraged over tickets they've received for up to $1,000 by the city's trash police for having a recyclable item as small as a soda can mixed in with their trash.

For more than a decade, the District's Department of Public Works inspectors have ticketed residents and businesses for mixing recyclable goods with regular trash, not picking up leaves or leaving items too large for a garbage truck on the curb. But over the past several months residents and business owners - many in downtown's Ward 2 - say the Solid Waste Education and Enforcement Program has been hitting them harder than ever before.

"We were issued a $200 citation for not recycling a single can," said Gina Schaefer, owner of Logan Hardware near P and 14th streets, Northwest. "People always dump trash in our [trash bin], we can't control it."

A copy of the citation obtained by The Washington Examiner clearly shows an image of a single aluminum can surrounded by a mess of garbage. A month after Schaefer was ticketed for the can in March, the hardware store was hit with a $150 fine when a neighbor left a couch by the store's trash.

It seems the ticket writers aren't following the laws they're supposed to enforce. District law allows for up to 30 percent of trash to be mixed with recyclable materials.

A DPW spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

Some residents say the fines they've been dealt were unfair. Dupont Circle resident Daniel Lyons said his condominium building was recently fined $1,000 for not having trash in a proper receptacle.

"It came as a surprise," Lyons said. "We didn't know the city had any intention of doing this."

Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans said his office has been "bombarded" with complaints from constituents, all of them saying the city appears to have stepped up its enforcement measures without any notice. Some, like Schaefer, are turning to Evans for help in fighting the citations.

Evans said he believes his ward is being unfairly targeted.

"I spoke with [DPW Director] Bill Howland and he assured me that's not the case," Evans said. "It certainly appears to be the case to me, though."

Evans said he "agrees with enforcing the law, but they can't be overzealous and issue someone a $200 ticket for having a can" in their trash.

If Schaefer doesn't pay the tickets, she said the city can hold up various business licenses she needs to operate.

"I employ 140 people and would like to be thought of as a good business owner, and not someone who needs to be fined," she said.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2011/08/dcs-trash-police-getting-picky-ticketing

Curb Alert: Illegal Dumping of Toxic Waste

Somebody left a TV in the tree box of a house near mine. I left the following note on it:

TO WHOEVER LEFT THIS TV HERE:

PLEASE REMOVE IT!!! It is illegal dumping – littering.

Take responsibility for your own garbage! If it works there are countless ways to get it to someone who wants an old tv. This TV has 5+ lbs of lead in it – before someone breaks it and spreads toxic waste, REMOVE IT!!!!

And be glad you didn’t get a ticket for illegal dumping!!!!!!!!

Called DC 311, #237552 is the number they gave me - we will see who gets it first - the Public Works Department crew or someone who breaks it.