Cheating probe: HISD to fire 2 teachers, demote principal

09:01 AM CST on Friday, February 18, 2005

Associated Press /Jason Whitely

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HOUSTON -- The Houston schools superintendent said Thursday he will move to fire two teachers he said helped students cheat on a state test and has demoted the principal of their elementary school.

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Superintendent Abe Saavedra said an internal investigation revealed two fifth-grade math teachers at Sanderson Elementary School helped students answer questions on an April TAKS test.

"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 district's newly formed Inspector General's office found during a two-month investigation that the math test scores from two fifth-grade classes at the school were far higher than they statistically should have been.

Both teachers denied any wrongdoing, said James Fallon, an attorney who is representing one of the two unidentified teachers.

Chris Tritico, attorney for the other teacher, said his client, who has worked for the district for five years, will fight for her job.

"What we generally find in situations like this is that HISD's investigations are generally flawed. They grasp for conclusions that are not generally Supported by the facts," said Tritico.

"The sad fact here is that the Houston Independent School District has completely discounted that the results could have indicated good teaching instead of cheating," he said. "When this process is completed, this teacher will be reinstated to her position."

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.

Houston Independent School District, the state's largest, has been plagued by allegations of inaccurate reporting of dropout and crime statistics.

Seventeen students were interviewed during the investigation. Fourteen said that at least one of the two teachers helped them solve math problems. Thirteen said one of the teachers told them to raise their hand if they needed help. Three students said at least one of the teachers pointed to an answer if they were unable to solve it.

The investigation also found that 14 students reported one of the teachers reviewed their math problems in the test booklet and marked questions the student should review again. All 14 children said they changed their answers based on the mark by the teacher.

Five students said one of the teachers told them the right answer to a question after they changed it to a wrong one because of the teacher's mark.

The district said it reviewed the students' test booklets and found markings consistent with the ones described by the students.

A Dallas Morning News review of test scores throughout the state prompted the HISD investigation.

Internal investigators are also reviewing test scores at 22 other schools because of scoring anomalies the district found.

The district, which encompasses 300 schools and more than 200,000 students, will report its findings to the Harris County District Attorney's office and the State Board of Educator Certification, which could revoke the teacher's teaching certificates

"The vast majority of our children and teachers do wonderful work," Saavedra said. "We must not allow their good work to be tarnished by the actions of a few."

"The teachers have been recommended for termination, an action that triggers a formal conference. If they are fired, they can appeal," said Terry Abbott, HISD spokesman,"The real simple message is `Don't cheat. We're not going to tolerate it.' "

This year's exam will be monitored by 600 observers in hopes of restoring credibility to such a high-stakes test.