Report Criticizes Philadelphia's Response To Cheating Allegations

Jackie Zubrzycki writes at the Education Week (10/30) "District Dossier" blog that an investigation by the Philadelphia Public Schools Notebook blog and WHYY found that "during the first year of stricter test-security measures in the 146,000-student Philadelphia school district, the district's handling of new allegations of cheating in one city school was 'baffling.' ... Daniel Piotrowski, who was head of the district's test security program, reported a slew of violations at Gen. Louis Wagner Middle School last March." The investigation described the district's responses to the cheating allegations, noting that monitors were summarily removed, district officials dismissed monitors' complaints, and the district "waited seven months to file a formal memo to the state department of education about what happened at Wagner."