She Handed Student
An Allowable Test Accommodation Item
Teacher’s Firing Upheld for Giving Student
“Indirect Assistance” During STAAR Test
Ruling: An ISD was justified in firing a teacher — who had noticed a student was not using an allowable test accommodation device during 2018 STAAR testing — because she picked up the device from the student’s desk and handed it to the student. Alana Sisk v. Klein ISD, No. 013-R2-10-2019. Issued Dec. 16.
KISD claimed that Sisk violated its policy against providing direct and/or (in this instance) indirect assistance to students with responses to questions during testing by handing the device to the student even though (as Sisk claimed) she did not say anything to the student in doing so and despite the fact the device was an approved test accommodation for that student.
- Note: The device (see illustration) was a “whisper phone,” a C-shaped contraption usually made of PVC plastic tubing that allows students to quietly read test questions or passages aloud in one end and hear themselves in the other end without disturbing others.
Sisk testified that the small group of students she was overseeing on the testing day was often easily distracted — daydreaming, tying their shoes, etc. All had their approved accommodations on their desks, and she said that she did not believe that she did anything wrong by handing them their approved accommodation devices, without saying anything, as a reminder to stay on task.
But, the commissioner concluded that KISD made a reasonable interpretation of its own policies to determine that Sisk’s handing the device to the student violated the district’s policies prohibiting employees from providing assistance to students during testing.
He added that another district with the same policies, and given the same circumstances, might also reasonably conclude that a teacher had not given a student indirect assistance on a test.
“It is not entirely clear...”
“It is not entirely clear that handing a student a whisper phone during test administration would constitute indirectly assisting a student with responses to test questions,” the commissioner noted, adding that KISD’s policy did not specifically prohibit a teacher from handing an allowable testing accommodation device to a student once testing had begun.
The commissioner accepted KISD’s justification in rejecting the recommendation by an independent hearing examiner (who concluded that Sisk’s actions did not constitute providing the student with assistance on the STAAR and that she should not be fired).
To Silently “Remind” the Student
The commissioner noted the hearing examiner included a finding, based on Sisk’s testimony, that her purpose in giving the student the device was to silently “remind” the student to use the device during testing.
The commissioner, in denying Sisk’s appeal, concluded that by “reminding” the student to use the device, KISD could reasonably conclude that Sisk gave the student “indirect assistance” on the exam in violation of district policies.