By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

SCRANTON, Pa. – Details continue to emerge about reported cheating in Pennsylvania schools as state officials narrow their focus to six school districts.

Public schools in Scranton, Hazelton, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Reading remain under investigation for irregular erasure marks found on student answer sheets to Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests administered between 2009 and 2011. Four charter schools also remain under investigation, according to the Scranton Times-Tribune.

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“On average, a student only erases once. In an attempt to give schools the ‘benefit of the doubt’ the state focused its investigation on schools that had more than 10 percent of students in any grade have five or more ‘wrong to right’ erasures,” the news site reports.

Investigators have reviewed old test booklets and “In some instances, the state brought in handwriting experts to evaluate how bubbles were filled in, or how the answers to open-ended questions were written.”

State Secretary of Education Ron Tamalis told the news site this week that new security measures implemented for PSSA tests this year are resulting in test scores in some districts 15 to 20 percent lower than in the past.

Pennsylvania launched the investigation into its PSSA test results last year after a forensic audit identified four dozen school districts with testing irregularities. Many districts have been cleared, but many have not.

In several districts, multiple schools have been targeted for investigation, according to media reports.

We believe the drop in test scores for several Pennsylvania school districts is a sure sign that state officials are making progress in stopping cheating. The heightened testing security, and the investigation itself, likely is enough to keep most teachers honest.

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We just hope state officials are as diligent about removing the employees responsible as they have been with investigating the problem. If any public employee committed a crime, we encourage state officials to pursue charges whenever possible.

Pennsylvania must send a message to teachers, students and taxpayers that it will not tolerate cheaters.

“This whole problem is not about making the kids look better. It’s all about adults looking better,” Tamalis told the Times-Tribune.com. “This hurts the students more than anyone else.”