Hazard-Herald confirms: Perry County educators under investigation for cheating on ACT

The latest news about the ACT cheating scandal in Perry County’s two district high schools:

The Kentucky Educational Professional Standards Board has now opened a full investigation into the activities of the professional educators involved.

ACT reported in November that cheating was definitely confirmed in both high schools.

By the way, new PLAN scores that were recently released add more evidence of misconduct.

The table below (click on it to enlarge), extracted from an Excel spreadsheet with the new test results for all schools in the state, shows both of Perry County’s high schools experienced very large score increases on the PLAN test between 2008-09 and 2009-10, the year when the cheating allegedly occurred. PLAN is another state-required test from the ACT, Incorporated given to all 10th grade students that is very similar to the ACT.

Both Perry County schools then experienced tremendous score drops after close scrutiny forced the staff to play honest during the current school year’s test cycle.


These one-year PLAN score drops between 2009-10 and 2010-11 are absolutely enormous. They are more than twice as large as any other drop in any other high school in the state.

Thus, the evidence mounts, including findings from the ACT investigation itself, that answer sheets were altered. And, ACT says the students didn’t do it. That means the only other individuals who had access to the controlled answer sheets did.

What we don’t want to do is send a message to educators around Kentucky that if you get caught altering test sheets, others will cover for you. If that bad message does get sent, Kentucky’s new assessment system’s credibility is dead before the first test booklet ever gets printed. I think the EPSB agrees.

ACT cheating scandal in Perry County still boils

New PLAN score release adds more evidence of misconduct

Who will be held accountable: Anyone?

It is absolutely vital that the integrity of testing in Kentucky is carefully maintained if this state is to reestablish a viable assessment system.

Sadly, events since last summer regarding school staffers cheating on the ACT in Perry County, which we discussed before here, here, here, and here provide a still unfinished story about whether state officials have the stomach to defend Kentucky's testing programs from cheating.

The Hazard-Herald reports local commotion over the scandal boiled up again a few days ago in a Perry County Board of Education meeting.

And, while we will have to wait until August for new ACT scores, the release several days ago of the latest PLAN scores for the current school term adds to concerns that serious test tampering occurred last year on ACT, Incorporated tests given in Perry County’s two high schools, and the tampering wasn’t limited to the ACT. PLAN is another state-required test from the ACT, Incorporated given to all 10th grade students that is very similar to the ACT.

The table below (click on it to enlarge), extracted from an Excel spreadsheet with the new test results for all schools in the state, shows both of Perry County’s high schools experienced very large score increases on the PLAN test between 2008-09 and 2009-10, the year when the cheating allegedly occurred.


Both Perry County schools then experienced tremendous score drops after close scrutiny forced the staff to play honest during the current school year’s test cycle.

These one-year PLAN score drops between 2009-10 and 2010-11 are absolutely enormous. They are more than twice as large as any other drop in any other high school in the state.

Thus, the evidence mounts, including findings from the ACT investigation itself, that answer sheets were altered. And, ACT says the students didn’t do it. That means the only other individuals who had access to the controlled answer sheets did.

Should the school staff responsible for this get off scot free?

So far, the only individuals who have suffered because of the improper changing of answer sheet entries are the students, who had to retake the ACT.

But, the Kentucky Educational Professional Standards Board did receive a referral from the Kentucky Department of Education and is conducting an investigation.

Furthermore; since the ACT drives money from KEES scholarships, which impacts both taxpayers and students; and influences college admissions, which obviously impacts students; perhaps other state agencies will decide to take a look, as well.

So, stay tuned.

One critical point in all of this is that we don’t want to send a message to educators around Kentucky that if you get caught altering test sheets, others in the system will cover for you.

If that bad message gets sent, Kentucky’s new assessment system’s credibility is dead before the first test booklet ever gets printed.

ACT scores cancelled at Perry County Central High School amidst concerns of possible test compromise

There are multiple news reports here and here that the ACT, Incorporated is investigating “potentially compromised test scores” at the Perry County Central High School.

Tests involved include the PLAN tests for 2009 and the ACT given in 2009 and 2010. PLAN is given to all 10th grade students in Kentucky, and all 11th graders take the actual ACT college entrance test.

The sketchy reports say student cheating is not suspected. The issue apparently surrounds testing administration procedures. Some of the suspected issues may involve administration of tests with special accommodations to students with learning disabilities. However, it is reported that all the 2009 test scores have been cancelled, and students will be offered a chance to retest.

The ACT indicates there is no specific time frame for concluding such investigations.

I did a quick check of the changes in ACT Composite Scores for 11th grade testing in all Kentucky high schools between 2008 and 2009. Perry County Central High School had the sixth largest increase in the state, although a few other schools had even larger increases.

However, large score changes are not unusual in small high schools, and all the schools that exceeded Perry County Central High School’s change between 2008 and 2009 are small. None tested more than 75 students in the 2009 eleventh grade ACT administration.

In contrast, Perry County Central High School tested 231 students that year, making a large score change much more unlikely.