By David Miller
ALBANY, GA (WALB) – Albany mother Hilda Shines says she called attention to test problems three years ago, to no avail.
Shines tells WALB that her son Joseph, who has a learning disability, and is now 18, was coached by a teacher to change his incorrect CRCT test answers from wrong to correct.
Mrs. Shines says that her son sat next to the teacher, and was told that when he marked an incorrect response, the teacher would clear her throat until he found the correct response.
Shines says that she sent letters to Dougherty County School, Superintendent Dr. Salley Whatley, the governor, State Superintendent Kathy Cox. She says that she never got any response from anyone about the complaint.
The Dougherty County School System is under a state investigation for possibly altering test scores.
Dougherty and other school systems in Georgia were found to have serious issues according to a state audit citing a high number of answers erased and possibly changed.
Dougherty School Superintendent Dr. Sally Whatley has met with principals since a state audit revealed a high number of erasures on the Dougherty students' CRCT's.
Letters are being sent home to parents in the severe and moderate school explaining and promising to get to the bottom of the allegations.
Dr. Whatley is explaining to the board that she's been in touch with McGraw-Hill, which owns the Criterion Referenced Competency Test, and the state has agreed to give the tests back to the system for examination.
Mrs. Shines says that she now home-schools her children.
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