How should Georgia monitor CRCT testing?

While other states routinely search for patterns on exams to determine if there was cheating, Georgia has never performed routine checks on students’ tests, according to this story.

Things may change in the aftermath of the CRCT cheating scandal.

The executive director of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement said the department will likely look at some test scores annually. Because of the large amount of data, she said staff will likely focus on one grade or one type of test.

Some testing experts say this may not be enough. They said it will hard to determine how much cheating goes on in Georgia without taking a broad look at test scores and security policies.

The focus on cheating comes after a state audit found four elementary schools had suspiciously large gains on last summer’s fifth-grade CRCT retest. (That audit was conducted following an AJC article questioning the jump in test scores.)

Two administrators from Atherton Elementary in DeKalb were arrested last week on charges of falsifying state documents.

What kind of annual audit should Georgia do on state tests to determine if cheating occurred? What changes should be made to improve test security?