Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Sub bungles CAT/6 state testing.

Here's what happened. My DD is in third grade. Her teacher went on maternity leave and DD's class has a long-term sub. Then, the long-term sub had a family emergency and asked a retired teacher friend of hers (Mrs. H) to sub for her. On her first day there, I talked to Mrs. H after school about the weekly mathlab that I run. She seemed very elderly and like she had almost no short-term memory. For instance, I told her that Mathlab was on Thursday and 10 seconds later she was saying it was on Tuesday. This was not the only example of her lapses during our conversation.

The next morning, I talked to the principal privately and told her that I didn't think Mrs. H was up to administering the test and why. She seemed to take me very seriously. So I was surprised when, a week later (yesterday), Mrs. H was there administering the CAT/6. I thought that the principal had checked her out and decided it would be ok.

That afternoon I picked DD up from school and she told me that she was really frustrated because Mrs. H wouldn't listen to her. Apparently, DD noticed that the wrong name was on her test booklet and in fact on everyone's test booklet. Mrs. H had just handed them out randomly! And not asked the kids to check the names! And when DD tried to point out the error she was told to "be quiet." So they did the whole first section of the test in the wrong booklets.

Then, Mrs. H realized the error and had them switch booklets and then change the answers to their own answers. I can't imagine that this procedure was very accurate, knowing 3rd graders. Besides, a teacher friend of mine told me that the booklets are not all the same. There are several versions.

When DD told me that, I took her straight to the principal and had her tell the principal what happened. Mrs. H was gone this morning and there was a different sub there. But what about the first part of the test? Shouldn't that be invalidated? My teacher friend seemed to think something like this is a disaster that would lead to an audit of the school!

I am going to talk to the principal again, but I am wondering what the rules are for reporting testing irregularities. Is the principal required to report this? What if she doesn't?

Ok, I called the CDE. They said to send them email detailing the scenario. I can't decide if I should send it or not. Should I give the principal a chance to send it first? I don't think that my DD was lying, but of course she is 8 and her version of events may not be exactly what happened. On the other hand, there may have been other mistakes made by Mrs. H that DD doesn't know about. Maybe CDE should look into it...

When DD told the principal what happened, the principal said she would "take a look at their test booklets." Can she do that?

I do not know the laws for you, but my inclination would be to send the email to the testing center letting them know what your daughter experienced. The CDE can take it from there. These tests matter to the student, school, district, and state. They need to know that there is the possibility that there was a problem with the administration of the test. You can certainly mention that you expect that the Principal will also be contacting them with his/her concerns. You can blind copy the Principal if you want to make sure that the lines of communication are clear as well.

Good luck

Yes, I am leaning that way as well. First, I am going to talk to the principal in person. I want to know what she is going to do about this. My DD needs these results to help her qualify for the GATE program--<sigh>. I hope the whole test isn't invalidated.

I'd definitely report it to the CDE, especially since you already talked to the principal before the fact and this bungled test was the result. You trusted her to take care of it once. That failed, so I don't think you trust her fix it after the fact. She had her chance. And I do think it's important enough to report.

CCing the principal seems kindly of you, but it does make it clear to her that you're the one who reported it. If that's okay with you, then no problem. It sort of depends upon the relationship you have with the pricipal and how you think she'd receive your reporting it. If your name would be attached to anything she's going to see, then I'd definitely CC her, and maybe even call ahead of sending the message to tell her what you're doing and why. You don't want to seem to be ambushing her.

Fingers crossed that Mrs. H didn't blow it so badly that you can't use the scores. If that happens, I think I'd raise a BIG stink! You need that test, and if the school blows it for your daughter through incompetence and lack of attention to an obvious problem, then I think they have to make it right for your daughter.

But what do I know?

I don't think it would go over well with the principal if I reported it. She and I have history... Even calling ahead or CCing her could seem like going over her head. Maybe she is going to report it herself, anyway. I would think she would rather report it and blame the whole thing on the sub than risk anyone finding out that she didn't report it.

I am going to talk to her to find out what she is going to do and what it will mean to my DD if the score is invalid. There may be an alternate assessment. Hey, maybe they could use her recent WISC scores--those show her above the 95%ile.

I wouldn't contact them without talking to the principal first. If I were the principal I would be extremely upset if somebody reported it. It should come from her and you should give her the chance to be the first to do so. You have your child in the school and you don't want any unnecessary problems with the principal.

I would go and talk to the principal again and ask her what the current situation is. To this day I remember when my father complained about my teacher to the principal and of course, the one who ended up in trouble was me. Just my two cents.

I agree. The only way it works is if you're either utterly anonymous or utterly upfront and "playing team" with the principal. Anything in between is bad.

At this point I think anonymous is out of the question.

Then I think you have to make SURE the principal reports it to the CDE. No more lip service. If she doesn't report it, then I do think you have to, regardless. I wouldn't surprise her with it, but if she says something about wanting to handle it in-house or whatever else she might say to blow you off, I think you have to follow up.

Be kind. Be a team player. But be firm about it. I really don't think you should take no for an answer.