What is Attendance Rigging?

Background

In late June 2012, the Ohio state auditor’s office began investigating whether staff at school districts across Ohio improperly changed student data to make their schools’ performance look better, particularly on state report cards. The auditor’s office is also looking at what role the Ohio Department of Education played in any improper data maniupation.

State auditor Dave Yost has called this practice “attendance report rigging.”

You can find more coverage of the Ohio school data investigation here.

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October 3, 2012

Ohio Data Rigging Investigation and the C-Word

Cassidy Curtis / Flickr There’s a state investigation of suspected “systemic cheating” in Ohio schools, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. “Cheating investigations” are underway in Toledo and Columbus, according to the Journal-Constitution. And the Ohio Auditor of State is investigating suspected “whether systemic cheating at three Ohio school districts was the result of lax oversight by the [...]

September 20, 2012

Columbus School Superintendent Gene Harris to Retire (Updated)

Columbus school district Superintendent Gene Harris will announce her retirement this afternoon, our partners at WOSU report: A source confirms Harris will retire following several months in the spotlight amid allegations of attendance rigging. The retirement will not be immediately, however. Harris will leave at the end of the school year. Her retirement comes as the [...]

September 11, 2012

School Board Agrees to Release Preliminary Report Card Data – Not Official Report Cards

After weeks of delay, the State Board of Education has decided to release preliminary report card data on school districts and buildings. Report cards were supposed to come out weeks ago, but they’ve been held up because Ohio schools are under investigation by the state auditor, who wants to know which ones falsified attendance records. That [...]

September 10, 2012

Auditor Says Investigation Into School Attendance Data Fraud May Last Into New Year

Ohio Auditor Dave Yost was hoping to wrap up his investigation into attendance rigging at schools statewide well before the November elections. It looks like that won’t happen. Many Ohioans will be asked to vote on school levies this fall, and schools worry that uncertainty surrounding accusations of falsified attendance data may hurt their chances [...]

September 4, 2012

Marion City, Elgin and Newark Schools Among Those Under State Investigation

Cliff / Flickr The approximately 100 schools under state scrutiny for altering student attendance data include schools in three central Ohio school districts, CentralOhio.com reports. Marion City, Elgin and Newark are all part of the state auditor’s investigation. Ohio Department of Education staff helped investigators in the state auditor’s office identify schools with high numbers of [...]

August 23, 2012

Let’s Play the Ohio School Attendance Data Rigging Blame Game

Sarah G. / Flickr The fingers of blame are pointing every which way as the investigation into whether Ohio schools are improperly manipulating student attendance data to make their state report cards look better unfolds. Here’s how the blame game is going: The State Auditor has suggested that the Ohio Department of Education could be [...]

August 21, 2012

What the Ohio 2012 School Report Card Delay Means for Parents, Teachers and Communities

Doug Waldron / Flickr Ohio is delaying the release of school report cards indefinitely pending the outcome of a statewide investigation into whether some schools manipulated student data to make their state report card grades look better. “The report cards are intended to give an accurate picture of how well schools are doing and they [...]

August 20, 2012

Up to 100 Ohio Schools Are Potential Targets of Attendance Rigging Investigation

Up to 100 Ohio schools — less than 3 percent of all charter and traditional public schools in the state — may have improperly changed student attendance data to make the school’s state report card look better, an Ohio Department of Education official said yesterday. Acting state Superintendent Michael Sawyers said department staff helped investigators [...]

August 13, 2012

School Administrators Got Bonuses for Deleting Attendance Data

Some Columbus City Schools administrators who deleted student attendance records to boost their schools’ test scores were rewarded with bonuses, according to The Columbus Dispatch. The Dispatch reports that the district has a “gainsharing” program that rewards school administrators and teachers for boosting attendance and graduation rates as well as test scores. Deleting student absences may boost [...]

August 10, 2012

State Auditor Dave Yost Tells Columbus School District Employees, “Call Me Maybe”

Ohio Auditor of State Dave Yost has released a video asking Columbus school district employees to call him, maybe, with any information related to falsifying student records, WOSU reports. Maybe you know something about people tampering with student attendance records but don’t know where to turn, Yost suggests. “You haven’t known what to do, who [...]