Ten Ontario schools probed for cheating, testing irregularities
Posted September 21, 2010 7:13 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – Ten public schools in Ontario have been investigated for cheating and irregularities on last year’s province-wide tests in reading, writing and mathematics.
The Globe and Mail said the government agency that oversees the tests has withheld scores for all 10 schools following a probe into all but one.
Marie Parsons, chief assessment officer at the Education Quality and Accountability Office, says some schools cheated while others inadvertently broke the rules.
She said educators broke the rules by either providing questions beforehand, photocopying the previous year’s test, handing back answers to correct, or providing resource materials such as dictionaries.
Parsons said the EQAO learned of the problems from parents or school officials.
She added that the Ontario College of Teachers has launched its own probe into at least one school.
St. Peter Catholic Secondary School in Peterborough is one of the 10 schools probed by the EQAO.
A teacher gave Grade 9 students advance copies of three questions that appeared on the academic math test administered last January, according to documents obtained by The Globe and Mail.
The unidentified teacher did not realize he wasn’t supposed to have access to the questions before the test date, said John Mackle, director of education of the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board.
