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Justice Department confirms college not under investigation

8/23/2000

NOTE: The following information updates UMNS story #377, released Aug. 18.

By United Methodist News Service

"Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Ark., is not the subject or target of an investigation by federal authorities concerning educational testing."

That one-sentence statement was issued Aug. 17 by Paula Casey, U.S. Attorney for the Justice Department's Eastern District of Arkansas.

The Associated Press reported Aug. 17 that at least 52 teachers from several states were allowed to cheat on state-required competency exams by paying bribes to the supervisors for extra time and answers. The test, required of teachers in 34 states, was administered at the United Methodist-related school by Educational Testing Service (ETS) of New Jersey, a nonprofit national test provider.

College President Trudie Kibbe Reed told United Methodist News Service Aug 18 that the school did not extend the hours of the test or receive any form of compensation for the test services. The college, she declared, is not under investigation and has been approved by ETS for use as a future testing site following a visit to the campus since the initial investigation.

In a statement released Aug. 22, Raymond Nicosia, director of test security for ETS, said the AP report was erroneous and that the FBI is not pressing charges against ETS or the college. "Officials of both ETS and Philander Smith are working with the FBI on the case, and the focus of the investigation is on test center personnel and not the college itself," he said. "The college had no involvement other than serving as testing center."

"We discovered the scheme, turned our findings over to the Little Rock FBI office, and then worked with them as they launched their own investigation," Nicosia added. The ETS release said the AP ran a correction shortly after the first news story appeared.

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