WASHINGTON – Emails obtained by The Associated Press show that an elementary school principal’s allegation of standardized test cheating had reached District of Columbia Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s desk within 24 hours of the alleged incident.
However, school system officials did little to investigate the specific claims and never interviewed the principal about them. Officials say that’s because cheating at Noyes Education Campus was already under investigation.
Former Noyes principal Adell Cothorne alleged in a lawsuit last year that she saw three educators erasing students’ answer sheets from a November 2010 standardized test.
The emails don’t show that Cothorne reported the incident directly, but they show Henderson was informed by two officials with the Washington Teachers’ Union.
Cothorne says the emails show the school system essentially ignored her allegations.
