Probe looks at state and test-fraud cases

The state faces a growing backlog of test-fraud cases and rarely punishes school staffers involved in such misconduct by taking away their professional licensing, a special investigator reported Monday.

The investigator, Henry M. "Hank" Greenberg, released revised figures showing that the State Education Department fielded 108 cases of testing irregularities in the 2010-11 school year -- the latest year reviewed -- and that 72 of those cases remained unresolved. The department initiated the investigation.

The annual number of cases reported Monday was revised upward from figures released at a news conference last week, and was far higher than numbers acknowledged by state school officials in years past.

Fears of test fraud are growing in New York and other states, as testing stakes get higher. Starting in June, the state plans to raise the stakes even more, by rating teachers based partly on students' test scores.

"Here's my simple advice: Get rid of the backlog," Greenberg told a receptive state Board of Regents at its monthly meeting in Albany.

Moreover, Greenberg said, the department rarely attempted to strip adult cheaters of their professional certifications. Of 278 testing violations verified statewide between 2006 and 2011, agency officials took action to decertify school staffers in four cases, he reported.

In one of those four cases, Isben Jeudy, a former Jericho assistant principal, lost his teaching and administrative certificates after giving an answer sheet for a 2005 Regents Global History exam to his son, a 10th-grader in another district. Another case involved Richard R. Musto, a Freeport science teacher stripped of his certificates after changing answers on a 2004 Regents chemistry exam to help his students pass.

Greenberg, a former counsel in the state attorney general's office, was appointed to review the education department's test-security system in November. The appointment followed a series of major testing scandals in Atlanta and other cities.

Greenberg's pro bono review found that the State Education Department -- which describes its testing program as underfunded -- seldom investigates fraud complaints itself.

In response to the report, the Regents Monday unanimously approved steps to bolster test security, including creation within the department of a seven-member unit of investigators and lawyers focused on major cases of test tampering.

B. Jason Brooks, research director of the Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability, a conservative Albany-area think tank, called the Regents' action "prudent and long overdue" though issues remain.

Roger Tilles of Great Neck, who represents Long Island on the Regents board, recalled that he had raised the issue of test security in 2007 following a major testing scandal in Uniondale, in which the entire school system was placed on academic probation. It has since been lifted.

At the time, Tilles said, he had been assured by department officials that new computerized scoring systems would help detect and deter future fraud.

"Somehow, that has never happened," Tilles added, referring to deterring fraud. "I'm very disappointed."