Teachers criticize test monitoring

By Diette Courrégé, The Post and Courier

When Charleston County school officials monitored Sanders-Clyde Elementary School's testing process this year, they deprived students of snacks and breaks and created a stressful and uncomfortable atmosphere, according to teachers' firsthand accounts of the situation.

School district leaders say that's an inaccurate description of what happened, and they denied doing anything that would negatively affect the school's testing process.

Teachers' descriptions of the monitoring somewhat mirror former Principal MiShawna Moore's account of what took place. Both predicted test scores would drop, and they did, dramatically. The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating whether any foul play was involved at the downtown school, which had become a shining star in Charleston for its low-income students' achievement.

Sanders-Clyde staff gave the district a 16-page packet of information after testing ended that chronicled issues they saw. It shows that teachers and other school employees shared many of the same concerns as Moore about the district's method for monitoring.

"While many students probably performed as well as expected, there are others that likely did not," wrote Corday Borders, a teacher coach. "All of our children deserved the best testing environment possible. We failed to provide that."

"The process they used impacted our schedule, our children's confidence, our teachers' behavior and the very atmosphere within our school," wrote Melissa Kersey, a fifth-grade teacher.

"The testing environment felt hostile, and this made everyone at Sanders-Clyde on edge," wrote Tanya Domin, guidance counselor.

The packet, however, does not explainother issues that triggered the state investigation, specifically a high number of eraser marks on the school's tests in 2007 and improbable one-year gains made by students that same year. Moore, who talked to The Post and Courier last week after repeated requests for an interview, could not explain the eraser marks or large one-year gains.

Moore also could not explain the gap between students' scores on a test similar to PACT and the PACT test itself. On the former test, students' scores were among the weakest in the county, and on the latter, they were among the strongest.

Moore has denied cheating, encouraging cheating or knowing of any cheating at the school.

Janet Rose, the district's executive director of assessment and accountability who oversaw the monitoring process, said she was surprised at teachers' reactions to the monitoring because it was totally unobtrusive.

Her staff deliberately sat in the back or sides of classrooms so they would not distract students, and Rose said no one was pressured to finish tests quickly.

Snacks and breaks were allowed, she said. Rose asked teachers to provide snacks in a more orderly way rather than constantly supplying students with food because that was distracting.

Rose also asked teachers to ensure breaks were more orderly because students were stopping at different times and possibly disrupting others, she said.

District staff didn't go to the school in an effort to try and find something wrong; they were there to validate the school's scores, she said.

"I don't want to make the school look bad," Rose said. "I'm with the school district. I wanted the scores to look good."

The packet contained specific, detailed accounts from seven Sanders-Clyde employees.

Common themes included: discomfort among children with the presence of strangers watching them, interruptions during testing caused by the monitors, limited access to snacks, pressure to continue testing without breaks and not allowing teachers to encourage students to do their best.

One part of the packet even suggests that district officials deliberately sabotaged the school to ensure the awards and recognition that had gone to the school would stop.

"Many Sanders-Clyde staff members are left wondering if the distractions were intentional," the packet read. "Is it possible that individuals had personal agendas that included proving that the poor African-American child on Charleston's East Side could not have possibly produced the improvements documented over the past five years?"

The packet does not include concerns about students on medication having to test immediately rather than waiting for their medicine to kick in. That was a key concern of Moore expressed earlier last week. Instead, teachers express concerns that testing often was delayed as a result of the district.

The last piece of the packet has comments from Moore, who foreshadowed the school's poor test score results.

"How do we prepare for what is to come and tell our side of the story? Perhaps we are to take the high road and say nothing," she wrote.