EDEN, N.Y. --Â The superintendent of the Eden Central School District said Tuesday that the New York State Education Department has cleared the district of any wrongdoing during last week's standardized testing. It was looking into accusations that teachers offered extra credit in exchange for taking the tests.
Last week, images of a rubric began circulating around the district connected to accusations the district may have added an extra incentive for students to take state standardized tests.
"The rubric that was created for 7th and 8th graders. The intent, which was planned for a couple of months, was to help motivate students to do better on all assessments," said Eden Superintendent Sandy Anzalone, who said the rubric looked at how students took tests and was used as a tool.
"The State Education Department has turned over their investigation stating that they found no evidence of an intent to alter scores and therefore it was not considered a violation of their protocol," Anzalone said.
The district is continuing with its own investigation though to see if there are any holes in its procedures or communication with employees.
"Our hope is that if someone is unsure of or unhappy about something or what someone is doing is that they would go to the next person in charge. I mean, that would be very helpful at this point," said Anzalone.
The Eden Teachers Association is not commenting on the investigation, but at Tuesday's board meeting affirmed support for parents who opt their children out of the testing.
"At this point, we feel there's no basis for them and until we can get tests that are actually going to be use for diagnostic reasons, then these tests don't do that at this point," said Colleen Kot, Eden Teachers Association president.
The second round of testing begins Wednesday.
"We want our students to be motivated and inspired and we will continue to find ways to do that," Anzalone said.
Eden had about 38 percent of its students opt out last week and expects to see similar numbers this week.