| Southern Local School District |
| Administrative Guidelines |
2623D - STANDARDS RELATIVE TO THE ETHICAL USE OF TESTS BY STAFF
It is the District’s intent to verify that staff members comply with the State Department of Education’s guidelines for the ethical use of tests and other assessments. These guidelines are designed to provide guidance for determining whether or not a practice related to the testing or assessment of students is consistent with the principle that a staff member perform his/her responsibilities with honesty and integrity and that only reliable and valid inferences are made from the test/assessment results.
In addition to assuring that any and all test security provisions are complied with, the District’s Test Security Officer (TSO) and the building principal shall be responsible for monitoring practices related to:
| A. | preparing students for tests/assessments; | |
| B. | administering and scoring tests/assessments; and | |
| C. | interpreting and/or using test/assessment results. |
Unethical or Inappropriate Practices in Preparing Students for Tests/Assessments
When preparing students for annual tests/assessments, staff members shall refrain from engaging in any:
| A. | preparation activity that undermines the reliability and/or validity of inference drawn from the assessment results; | |
| B. | practice that results solely in raising scores or performance levels on a specific assessment instrument, without simultaneously increasing the student’s achievement level as measured by other tasks and/or instruments designed to assess the same content domain; | |
| C. | practice involving the reproduction of actual assessment materials, through any medium, for use in preparing students for an assessment; | |
| D. | preparation activity that includes questions, tasks, graphs, charts, passages or other materials included in the assessment instrument or in a parallel form of the instrument, and/or materials that are paraphrases or highly similar in content to those in actual use; | |
| E. | preparation for the assessment that focuses primarily on the assessment instrument or a parallel form of the instrument, including its format, rather than on the objectives being assessed; | |
| F. | practice that does not comply with, or has the appearance of not complying with, statutory and/or regulatory provisions related to security of assessment instruments used in schoolwide or districtwide programs; and | |
| G. | practice that supports or assists others in conducting unethical or inappropriate preparation activities. |
Unethical or Inappropriate Practices in Administering and Scoring Tests/Assessments
Unless specifically permitted by written instructions provided by the developer or as provided through an individual education program (IEP), when administering and/or scoring annual tests/assessments, staff members shall refrain from:
| A. | using an assessment instrument for purposes other than that for which such instrument has been validated; | |
| B. | engaging in a practice that results in a potential conflict of interest or exerts undue influence on those administering or scoring the assessment, which would make the assessment process unfair to some students; | |
| C. | modifying the procedures for administering and/or scoring the assessment that results in nonstandard and/or delimiting conditions for one (1) or more students; | |
| D. | engaging a practice that allows persons without sufficient and appropriate knowledge and skills to administer and/or score the assessment; | |
| E. | engaging in an administration or scoring practice produces results contaminated by factors not relevant to the purposes of the assessment; | |
| F. | excluding one (1) or more students from an assessment solely because the student has not performed well, or may not perform well, on the assessment and/or because the aggregate performance of the group may be affected; | |
| G. | guiding a student’s responses during an assessment through any type of gesture, facial expression, use of body language, comment or any other action; | |
| H. | providing students with any definitions of words or terms contained in the actual assessment instrument; either immediately preceding or during administration of an assessment; | |
| I. | erasing, darkening, rewriting, or in any other way correcting or altering student responses to an assessment task during or following the administration of an assessment; and | |
| J. | supporting or assisting others in unethical or inappropriate practices during the administration and/or scoring of tests/assessments. |
Unethical or Inappropriate Practices in Interpreting and Using Results
When interpreting and using annual test/assessment results, staff members shall refrain from:
| A. | providing interpretations of, and/or using, assessment results in a manner and/or for a purpose that has not been validated; | |
| B. | making false, misleading, or inappropriate statements and/or unsubstantiated claims that lead to false or misleading conclusions about assessment results; | |
| C. | permitting certificated employees or volunteers without the necessary knowledge and skills to interpret the results of an assessment; | |
| D. | violating or placing at risk, the confidentiality of individually identifiable information; | |
| E. | providing an interpretation, or suggesting uses, of assessment results without due consideration of the purpose(s) for the assessment, the limitations of the assessment, the examinee characteristics, any irregularities in administering and/or scoring the assessment, or other factors affecting the results; and | |
| F. | supporting or leading others to interpret or use assessment results in unethical or inappropriate ways. |
If a staff member has reason to believe that there has been a violation of the standards for the ethical use of tests committed by another staff member or volunteer, s/he shall contact the principal immediately and provide the name(s) of the violator(s) and the nature of the alleged violation(s). The principal shall investigate the alleged violation(s) immediately to verify whether or not the alleged violation(s) occurred.
If the violation(s) is/are verified, the District’s due-process procedures are to be used in dealing with the violator. If the violator is a member of the staff, s/he may be subject to loss of certification/licensure and/or dismissal from the District. If the violator is a volunteer, s/he may be immediately released from his/her volunteer services with the District.
The principal shall make the decision whether or not to invalidate the student’s test score on each test that was violated or all of the tests. Within ten (10) days of the violation, the coordinator is to notify the State Department of Education concerning the nature of the violation and the action that was taken against the violator.
Staff members shall be provided with this guideline prior to the beginning of each test administration period and shall be required to acknowledge receipt of this guideline on annual basis.
Approved 12/27/05