This was just sent to us from one of our Bearden High Momma Bears:
Bearden High momma bear here!
We have some breaking news in Knoxville.
Thank you for sharing our story!!!
This is all of the information we have right now and it is certainly not complete or satisfactory.
The KCS administration continues working diligently to do whatever they can.
The Knox County Schools Director of Assessment, Laurie Driver, attended the press conference Friday, on behalf of the KCS administration. She has been at Bearden for several days, working on this issue and the administration was still investigating the situation on Friday.
Information regarding the press conference was sent to Board members around noon that same day and most members may not have seen it in time to be there or to make arrangements to leave work so quickly.
Knox County Board of Education members received the following information late Friday:
(Superfluous information has been left out where not relevant. Quoted information is in quotation marks.)
"An Internal Review of the [ACT] situation has been conducted. The process of ordering, monitoring and administering ACT tests involves three entities: ACT, Knox County Schools and TDOE [the Tennessee Department of Education]. While certainly human error could have played a part in this situation, we have full confidence in the process followed and oversight provided by the administration at Bearden High School and our accountability team."
Below is a timeline that supports the position that all efforts were made to ensure the ACT retake was handled in accordance with ACT protocols:
• "August 21-23 – Correspondence took place between the BHS assistant principal, the KCS assessment specialist and ACT project coordinator to verify the materials order for the ACT test was done correctly. After another review at the request of the assistant principal, the assessment specialist determined the order looked identical to all of the other schools. No one from ACT or TDOE contacted Bearden High School or the district office again to say the order was not completed."
• "September 19 – Test materials for the October 17 ACT retake test were delivered to all KCS high schools. This was at odds with previous communication saying the materials would be delivered the week of October 9".
• "October 4 – FedEx showed up at five KCS high schools, but NOT Bearden High School, to pick up ACT tests thought to have been completed October 3. However, no KCS high schools were taking the test on that day. All KCS high schools were scheduled to take the ACT retake test on October 17." Logically... "if Bearden High School was given the October 3 ACT test materials, then FedEx would have scheduled a pick-up of the completed tests on October 4 as ACT schedules the pickup and delivery of ACT materials."
• "October 18 – The day after the October 17 ACT retake test, FedEx showed up at all KCS high schools, including Bearden High School, to pick up completed tests."
• "October 27 – ACT sent notification of the test misadministration; however, this email communication was not sent to the current ACT test coordinator at Bearden High School, but rather, someone who no longer works at the school. This was despite the fact the current ACT test coordinator had previously received multiple correspondence from ACT."
"Our main focus continues to be on the students and making sure everything is being done to limit any adverse impact on college entrance and scholarships. We are also working to make sure any student interested is registered for the ACT test in December at no cost. The district has provided and continues to provide additional supports to Bearden High School."
We have some breaking news in Knoxville.
Thank you for sharing our story!!!
This is all of the information we have right now and it is certainly not complete or satisfactory.
The KCS administration continues working diligently to do whatever they can.
The Knox County Schools Director of Assessment, Laurie Driver, attended the press conference Friday, on behalf of the KCS administration. She has been at Bearden for several days, working on this issue and the administration was still investigating the situation on Friday.
Information regarding the press conference was sent to Board members around noon that same day and most members may not have seen it in time to be there or to make arrangements to leave work so quickly.
Knox County Board of Education members received the following information late Friday:
(Superfluous information has been left out where not relevant. Quoted information is in quotation marks.)
"An Internal Review of the [ACT] situation has been conducted. The process of ordering, monitoring and administering ACT tests involves three entities: ACT, Knox County Schools and TDOE [the Tennessee Department of Education]. While certainly human error could have played a part in this situation, we have full confidence in the process followed and oversight provided by the administration at Bearden High School and our accountability team."
Below is a timeline that supports the position that all efforts were made to ensure the ACT retake was handled in accordance with ACT protocols:
• "August 21-23 – Correspondence took place between the BHS assistant principal, the KCS assessment specialist and ACT project coordinator to verify the materials order for the ACT test was done correctly. After another review at the request of the assistant principal, the assessment specialist determined the order looked identical to all of the other schools. No one from ACT or TDOE contacted Bearden High School or the district office again to say the order was not completed."
• "September 19 – Test materials for the October 17 ACT retake test were delivered to all KCS high schools. This was at odds with previous communication saying the materials would be delivered the week of October 9".
• "October 4 – FedEx showed up at five KCS high schools, but NOT Bearden High School, to pick up ACT tests thought to have been completed October 3. However, no KCS high schools were taking the test on that day. All KCS high schools were scheduled to take the ACT retake test on October 17." Logically... "if Bearden High School was given the October 3 ACT test materials, then FedEx would have scheduled a pick-up of the completed tests on October 4 as ACT schedules the pickup and delivery of ACT materials."
• "October 18 – The day after the October 17 ACT retake test, FedEx showed up at all KCS high schools, including Bearden High School, to pick up completed tests."
• "October 27 – ACT sent notification of the test misadministration; however, this email communication was not sent to the current ACT test coordinator at Bearden High School, but rather, someone who no longer works at the school. This was despite the fact the current ACT test coordinator had previously received multiple correspondence from ACT."
"Our main focus continues to be on the students and making sure everything is being done to limit any adverse impact on college entrance and scholarships. We are also working to make sure any student interested is registered for the ACT test in December at no cost. The district has provided and continues to provide additional supports to Bearden High School."
Thank you, Bearden High Momma Bear! Keep letting us know of any more updates to this story.
Please note they have updated their hashtags
#ACTGiveUsOurScores #ACTblunder2017
