An audit of testing practices at Cesar Chavez Academy in Pueblo finds three successive years of “extremely high” rates of special accommodations for test-takers – but no evidence of answer tampering or test coaching.
Auditors also said there was no evidence that the extra time, typically another 30 minutes per test-taker, resulted in improved scores for CCA students on the Colorado Student Assessment Program.
Lawrence Hernandez, CCA’s controversial founder, said he feels “vindication.”
“What the audit shows is that the kids earned the results they received,” said Hernandez, who was ousted from the school in October and is now suing the school’s governing board.
Still, “There is no justifiable basis for these high rates of accommodation levels,” state Education Commissioner Dwight Jones said in a news release Monday. “The state is compelled to require Cesar Chavez Academy to establish new policies and implement new procedures to ensure these high rates of accommodations are not repeated.”
As Education News Colorado first reported in July, 56 percent of Cesar Chavez Academy students in grades 3 through 8 received extra time on their 2008 reading exams. In comparison, 6.9 percent of all Colorado students in grades 3 through 8 received extra time on their 2008 reading tests.
The Caveon Test Security audit points to similar discrepancies between the school and state practices, noting that 77.5 percent of Cesar Chavez third-graders were provided extra time on state writing tests in 2007 compared to just 6.5 percent of students statewide.
Colorado Department of Education officials commissioned the audit at the request in June of former Pueblo City Schools Superintendent John Covington. The state paid Utah-based Caveon $25,000 and released the firm’s findings on Monday.
Among the highlights:
- No evidence of answer sheet tampering through erasures, test coaching through similar test analysis or unusual gains from prior years.
- Normal rates of extra-time accommodations in 2006 at CCA but “extreme rates of extra-time accommodations” in 2007 and 2008 in all grades and in grades 3 and 7 in 2009.
- Inconsistent use of extra-time accommodations for the same students from 2008 to 2009; for example, “an unexpectedly large number of students” who received extra time in 2008 did not receive the same accommodation in 2009 – whether the students stayed at CCA or moved to another school.
- No evidence of testing irregularities at CCA’s sister school in Pueblo, Dolores Huerta Preparatory High; Denver’s Cesar Chavez Academy, which has its own governing board, was not part of the audit.
Pueblo City Schools officials released a statement saying the Caveon audit “confirms allegations that inappropriate CSAP test administration has taken place at Cesar Chavez Academy for the past three years.”
“This is unfortunate for so many families who had such high aspirations for the school as it was originally envisioned,” Pueblo City’s school board president, Stephanie Garcia, said in the release.
“It certainly is sad that those in authority at CCA lost sight of the vision by compromising the school’s credibility and misleading children and their families into a false assessment of a student’s academic performance.”
CDE’s Jones has requested the CCA develop and submit to Pueblo City Schools a written plan to remedy training and implementation of testing procedures by Feb. 1. He said the plan must include new CCA policies and assurances that school test procedures are transparent to the school district and the state.
Pueblo district officials say they’re considering “a range of actions that could include, but not limited to, proctoring of future CSAP tests at CCA, sanctions against CCA administration and working with the CDE to invalidate certain CCA test results as a result of misadministration.
“We do not refute the audit findings but in fact embrace them as an opportunity to move forward with our educational programs,” Dennis Feuerstein, governing board president of the Cesar Chavez Schools Network, which includes CCA, said in a statement.
“Faculty, staff, and students are not surprised that there is no evidence of tampering, teaching to, copying of, or ‘cheating’ during the CSAP,” he said. “Our students and teachers have worked extremely hard and their high achievement has been confirmed.”
Feuerstein said the schools’ network acknowledges “that a significant number of students” received extra time but said, “The internal policies and procedures regarding these extra time accommodations were practices mandated by prior administration that are no longer associated with our schools.”
It was unclear if Feuerstein was referring to Hernandez, the CEO of the Cesar Chavez Schools’ Network through October. Feuerstein, among those being sued by Hernandez over his ouster, did not return a call requesting clarification.
CCA, a K-8 charter school, has won national attention for achieving high test scores with a high-minority, high-poverty student enrollment. But the school’s accomplishments have long been questioned by some in the Pueblo school district and in the Pueblo community.
The CDE also is planning a financial audit of Cesar Chavez Academy and expects “soon” to announce the firm selected for that audit, according to its release.
Nancy Mitchell can be reached at nmitchell@pebc.org or 303-478-4573.
Click here to read the CDE news release about Monday’s audit release and here to view the audit findings.
Click here to read the Cesar Chavez Schools Network press release on the findings.
Click here to read Pueblo City Schools’ press release on the findings.
Click here to read Lawrence Hernandez’ statement on the findings.
Click here to read the Ed News’ story about Cesar Chavez testing questions in 2007 and 2008.
Click here to read the Ed News’ story about Cesar Chavez testing questions in 2009.
PRESS RELEASE BY DR. LAWRENCE AND ANNETTE HERNANDEZ
For immediate release, December 7, 2009:
We have learned of press releases issued today regarding the results of an audit conducted by Caveon Security of the CSAP testing procedures at Cesar Chavez Academy and Dolores Huerta Preparatory High. Notably, neither of us were interviewed or contacted regarding the audit, and we therefore have no personal knowledge of the overall process and integrity of the audit. Nonetheless, overall we believe that the audit results vindicate students and faculty at CCA and DHPH, and disprove previous unfounded allegations of improper conduct at the schools. Most notable is the press release and audit summary document issued by the Colorado Department of Education. As set forth by the CDE, key findings from the audit include the following:
• There was no evidence of any form of testing irregularity at DHPH.
• There was no evidence of answer sheet tampering at CCA.
• There was no evidence of test coaching at CCA.
• There was no evidence of unusual gains from prior years at CCA.
• There was no evidence of unexpectedly high scores at CCA.
• There were unusual numbers of extra-time accommodations granted to CCA students in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
o Extra-time accommodations for the CSAP are permitted by state law, and, as noted in the audit, eligibility for such accommodations at CCA were determined by a committee during these years, and provided for by proctors.
o While the audit determined that there were comparatively higher numbers of extra-time accommodations granted at CCA during these years, there was no evidence that the extra-time accommodations resulted in improved test scores for CCA students.
Unfortunately, both the Pueblo City School District and the President of the CCA and DHPH Boards have issued press releases choosing to focus on the limited negative findings, and continue their unfounded personal attacks against us. The press release from Dennis Feuerstein, President of the CCA and DHPH Boards, stated that the audit criticisms regarding extra-time accommodations were “practices mandated by prior administration that are no longer associated with our schools.” To the extent that Mr. Feuerstein’s statement was expressly or impliedly referring to either of us, we strenuously dispute any such allegation or implication, and believe that the following points are relevant to this issue:
• While we were employed as executives at CCA and DHPH, the only “practice” that we ever “mandated” was strict compliance with all applicable laws. We did not condone or in any way authorize any improper accommodations, we attempted to assure that all testing was carried out pursuant to the requirements of Colorado state law, and we were not aware of any improper accommodations with regard to CSAP testing. To our knowledge, all testing at CCA and DHPH was done in full compliance with state law.
• Pursuant to state law, the ultimate authority and accountability for CSAP testing rests with the District Assessment Coordinator.
• At CCA, the responsibility for oversight and implementation of CSAP testing rested with specified Site Assessment Coordinators. Dr. Hernandez was not a SAC for CCA after 2005, and Ms. Hernandez never had any SAC responsibility at CCA. For the years at issue in the audit (2007-2009), all of the CCA SACs signed a written statement that they had read all relevant policies and instruction manuals regarding CSAP accommodations, and that they would comply with all applicable policies, procedures and requirements.
• Contrary to the plain implication of the statement from Board President Stephanie Garcia in the School District press release, at no time did either of us ever mislead any CCA students or families regarding the students’ academic performance, and we are highly offended by these unwarranted and untrue allegations.
• Notably, neither the CDE press release nor the audit summary make any findings the either of us mandated or were responsible for any policies or actions that may have resulted in the number of extra-time accommodations at CCA during 2007-2009. Accordingly, the contrary statements and implications contained in the press releases from the CCA Board President and the School District are wholly unfounded and without merit.
We are very proud of the students and faculty at CCA, and we congratulate them on their exoneration as a result of the audit findings. It is unfortunate that Stephanie Garcia and Dennis Feuerstein have chosen to highlight the negatives, and attempted to twist the audit findings to further attack us and our reputations. From the day we founded CCA nearly ten years ago, our focus has always been on supporting and encouraging the wonderful students, families and faculty at CCA, and we encourage the entire community to continue to do so.
Dr. Lawrence and Annette Hernandez, Pueblo, Colorado
Nonetheless whatever happens some stigma will hang over everyone who took the tests now, which is a shame. Life’s unfair sometimes.
BB
[...] The controversies and problems surrounding the Cesar Chavez charter network are expected to spark multiple proposals to change the authorization and regulation of charter schools. [...]