Norfolk school division among worst in testing absences

NORFOLK

On state testing days at Norfolk's Lafayette-Winona Middle School in 2009, students who arrived late were sent to a classroom to wait.

They were counted present for the school day, but absent from the test and were supposed to later take make up Standards of Learning exams. At least two dozen never did.

That same spring, staffers at Norfolk's Dreamkeepers Academy failed to turn in some test answer sheets for 16 students who also had attended school on testing days. After giving a variety of reasons for the missing documents, Principal Doreatha White allegedly revealed something else: She'd determined that her school could meet government standards, even if some students never took the exams.

State and federal rules generally require that all Virginia students be assessed if they are enrolled in grades or courses with SOL tests. Schools are allowed a bye if children don't show up for the test and don't take make-up exams because they are absent for the weeks set aside for testing.

A Virginian-Pilot analysis of state records shows that the exemption is used sparingly: Last year, fewer than 13,500 SOL exams - or less than half of 1 percent of more than 3 million - weren't administered in Virginia because of absences.

But the missed exams can add up for some schools: For the past three years, between 4 percent and 8 percent of the tests required at Lafayette-Winona were exempted because school leaders listed students as absent.

For those years, Lafayette ranked fourth out of about 1,800 Virginia schools in the percentage of tests missed for absence, according to the analysis. Last year, Norfolk's Ruffner Middle School also was in the top 10.

Such exemptions aren't counted as failures, and the Virginia Department of Education doesn't limit how many tests can be skipped for this reason. State officials also don't monitor how many exams are missed because of absences.

They hope to change that soon.

"It is the responsibility of the school division to administer the tests," said Shelley Loving-Ryder, state assistant superintendent of student assessment and school improvement. "While we want to do what we can to check and make sure that all students are assessed, it is ultimately the responsibility of the locality to ensure that."

In Virginia, SOL tests are the key to success. Each year, state and federal guidelines raise the bar for the percentage of exams that must be passed. Schools that fall below the line are branded as failing, and miss full state accreditation or adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The rules for test participation are minimal.

Under No Child Left Behind, at least 95 percent of a school's eligible students must participate in English and math exams. No such rule exists for science, history or writing tests.

The state doesn't set a threshold for test participation. Schools are trusted to test as many students as possible and to account for those who miss exams.

State officials hope soon to be able to electronically compare enrollment and testing data. They also are exploring ways to monitor the number of students exempted from tests.

If a problem is flagged, it will be up to the school division to explain, said Loving-Ryder.

"There have been a number of irregularities about students not being tested," she said. "So I believe that school divisions are being more vigilant now."

State education officials first learned of test participation problems at Norfolk's Dreamkeepers from a whistle-blower, and they stumbled onto similar irregularities at Lafayette-Winona while investigating other concerns.

The whistle-blower prompted state officials to request more information about Dreamkeepers from the Norfolk school division, which provided a report on its investigation into the missing answer sheets.

In the report, White said some of the tests were exempt due to absence. However, Norfolk administrators found that for at least four of the exams, attendance records showed the students were at school during the testing period.

Administrators quoted White in the report as saying that she "reviewed her numbers before testing and determined that she could not test some students and still make the AYP participation benchmark of 95 %."

White wrote a rebuttal in which she denied making that statement. She said Linda O'Konek, a central office administrator, had repeatedly suggested that principals figure out exactly how many students it would take to meet the federal participation guideline and how many needed to pass. "I never used this formula," White wrote. White did not return a phone call to the school seeking comment.

In an e-mail to The Pilot, O'Konek wrote that she never suggested that principals purposely exclude students from testing.

At Lafayette, state officials discovered test participation problems while they were investigating a complaint about assessments for special education students. An independent panel appointed by Norfolk school officials later delved further into the troubles.

According to The Pilot's analysis, between 17 and 21 Lafayette eighth-graders were counted absent last year for tests in reading, writing, science and math. Prior years had equal and higher numbers, including for some sixth- and seventh-grade tests.

In each of the past three years, about 10 percent of the Lafayette students who were supposed to take the eighth-grade mathematics tests didn't.

And in 2006-07, more than 17 percent of the Lafayette students who were supposed to take an eighth- grade science SOL test - 52 children -- were reported absent from the exam, according to the data.

The percentage of exam absences at Lafayette has decreased since 2007, but the school's numbers remain high in comparison with other Virginia schools.

Cassandra Goodwyn, the school's principal during those years, went on administrative leave after the panel's report was submitted to the division. She referred inquiries to her attorney, who didn't respond to a request for comment.

Norfolk school leaders said that they are starting to monitor the number of tests missed for absences this year.

Administrators at Norfolk's Granby High School described the challenges they face trying to make sure that all students are tested.

Often, students who don't show up for tests are chronically absent or are upperclassmen who already have enough credits to graduate, Granby Principal Ted Daughtrey said. In many cases, they are absent from more than one test.

In addition, Granby, like other schools, is expected to make sure that suspended students and those enrolled in alternative schools take the tests.

Granby recently started an aggressive campaign to locate all untested students through school wide e-mails, phone calls to students' homes and morning announcements.

Administrators also are checking attendance records to make sure that students who have missed enough classes to be dropped from the roster are removed. Students who are no longer enrolled in a class are not required to take the SOL test.

The effort seems to have paid off: In the 2006-07 school year, Granby led the state in the number of exams missed for absences: 322. Last year, that number dropped to 86.

"Even if you know they might fail, you have to test them," said Assistant Principal Tommy Smigiel, who is also a City Council member-elect. "Our goal is to get 100 percent."

State officials recommended this spring that Norfolk make improvements to its testing practices after finding several inconsistencies among schools. "It was unclear how the schools or the division verify the correct number and types of test records are submitted for processing and scoring," they noted.

Norfolk has responded with a new rule requiring schools to submit class rosters with completed testing materials. The division's plan also includes increased monitoring of student attendance and more days for make up tests.

Chesapeake, Suffolk and Virginia Beach officials said their divisions already take similar measures.

Amy Jeter, (757) 446-2730, amy.jeter@pilotonline.com