Unanswered questions on CSAP protocol
Bianca McKerihan on August 8, 2010 in Education News No Comments »Last week we read about the Colorado Virtual Academy (COVA) “mishap” that invalidated more than 6,000 CSAP test scores. This week’s release of CSAP data by the Department of Education keeps the story in the forefront. But when it comes to the whole COVA incident, I must confess to having some unanswered questions. (And I must also confess to working closely with a COVA board member, as well as having both CDE employees and COVA parents as friends.)
EdNews describes administering CSAP tests to students from different grades in the same room as “a violation of state testing protocol.” But if action is going to be taken as severe as throwing out thousands of assessment scores (resulting in failure to make AYP under federal law), it would help to know more about the origin of the protocol. It’s not in state law. It doesn’t originate from rules adopted by the State Board.
Hence it would be valuable to know: When was the policy adopted? By whom? With what rationale?
Others have brought attention to the lack of clarity in the way the “protocol” is presented. In the EdNews
