TEA confirms cheating allegations in HISD
Investigators with the Texas Education Agency confirmed allegations of staff-led cheating on the TAKS test at Key Middle School last year, according to a TEA memo [pdf].
The agency's letter, sent to the Houston Independent School District late Thursday, said that state officials found "significant evidence" that Key students were helped on the June 2009 eighth-grade TAKS retest in math and/or that some answers had been changed. Agency officials also said they verified other allegations in HISD's own investigative report that found evidence of cheating on other TAKS exams given at Key.
The TEA downgraded Key's accountability rating to "academically unacceptable," but the findings did not lead Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott to downgrade HISD's