06/9/11 The Plymouth Community School Corporation issued a press release on June 8 concerning the results of an investigation launched after it was discovered that portions of the eighth grade ISTEP (Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress) test given at Lincoln Junior High during the 2010-2011 school year had to be invalidated.
On or about May 1, it was discovered that there were irregularities concerning the preparation given to some students prior to the test itself. The school self-reported the problem to the Department of Education (DOE).
At that time, school administrators said, “This action is being taken because these students received a review sheet in class that contained several questions that were on a portion of this year’s Multiple Choice test taken this week.”
After an investigation by an independent investigator, it was found that there were no state statutes or school policies broken.
In a telephone interview late Wednesday afternoon, Superintendent Daniel Tyree said, “Had it been determined that the teacher had purposely used a study sheet (that contained test questions), one can concur from the press release that there was no knowledge of replicating the test questions.” Tyree said that if the investigation had found otherwise, than there would have been state statutes or school policies violated.
In the May 1 release, Tyree said, “The students did nothing wrong.
Their grades and advancement to 9th grade will not be affected by this incident.” He had added, “We are fully investigating the incident to determine how this occurred. We believe the integrity of the ISTEP testing process to be of the utmost importance and this is why we have made the determination to invalidate this portion of the test and conduct an investigation.”
The parents of the students affected had been notified in a letter immediately after the matter was brought to light.
According to Tyree, a summary of the independent investigation has been sent to the DOE.
