An organization representing educational administrators joined a group of professors in questioning a university’s motivation for censuring a principal for the controversial results of a 2007 audit.
Bob Wells, executive director of the Association of California School Administrators, recently sent a letter to a group of five professors who made headlines for speaking against a 2007 audit they said was “technically flawed” in critical portions. This audit resulted in Dr. Doris Alvarez stepping down as principal of the Preuss charter school at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).
Wells’ organization represents California school administrators. In a Jan. 22 letter addressed to Terrence J. Sejnowski, director of biological sciences at UCSD, Wells said he gives “testimony to the leadership of the principal,” Alvarez, essentially backing Sejnowski and four other professors who wrote a letter to UCSD Chancellor Marye-Anne Fox, dated Jan. 15.
The professors summarized their interpretation of the audit, asking the chancellor to re-examine it. Both Wells and Sejnowski’s group said they believe Alvarez was wrongly blamed for findings that may be inaccurate.
Wells said the recent audit performed at the Preuss School caught the ACSA’s attention, especially because the five UCSD professors have publicly questioned its “methodology and statistics.”
“We are concerned that an administrator has been seriously impugned by an audit that is now being called ‘technically flawed’ by respected educators,” Wells wrote in the Jan. 22 letter.
On the heels of winning many awards, among them inclusion in a May 2007 Newsweek article called “The 100 Best High Schools of America,” ranking the school ninth among 1,200, the Preuss charter school found itself at the center of a controversy that included allegations of grade tampering, teacher pressuring and shady dealings, resulting in an audit and the resignation of Alvarez, its highly respected principal. But months after the audit was released, five professors raised questions regarding the validity of the findings. They wrote a letter asking officials to reopen the investigation.
“[The group of teachers questioning the audit] didn’t go through us ” it was a surprise to us,” said Pat JaCoby, UCSD communications officer. “I’m not comfortable answering any questions about that committee.”
“It is unfortunate that Doris Alvarez was not granted the opportunity to challenge or refute the audit data,” Wells said. “By doing so, she could have shared policies in place at the Preuss School and she could have shed light on the principal’s role in academic grading.”
The Preuss School, a college-preparatory school chartered under UCSD, was awarded recognition in November 2007 as one of the top ten high schools in America by U.S. News & World Report. The middle-high charter school, which by definition has some flexibility in its curriculum, helps low-income students move on to universities “” some to Ivy League schools “” and soon became the subject of the audit and investigation scandal.
The UCSD Preuss Charter School Grades Investigation Audit & Management Advisory Services Project (AMAS) launched an investigation into alleged grade tampering, after the chairman of the board of directors notified AMAS of potential improprieties at the school.
“I’m not at liberty to field any questions,” said David Meir, manager of campus audits for AMAS at UCSD. “I cannot talk about this audit. We have certain protocols.”
According to an AMAS report, the chairman notified officials of his concerns in May 2007.
“The chairman had been informed by the Preuss School Principal that a Preuss School employee was involved in inappropriate practices and had been terminated,” AMAS reported.
Upon further investigation, the chairman received allegations of senior administrative personnel instructing office employees to “improperly replace grades earned in Advanced Placement (AP) courses [from] grades earned for non-AP courses” that were taken online and in summer school, which are of concern due to the college requirements placed on students at Preuss.
Other allegations included students being allowed to retake classes to increase their grade point average; recorded differences on students’ transcripts, where the grade they earned was lower than recorded; Principal Alvarez pressuring the staff to change grades; misappropriation of funds; and students receiving AP credit for non-AP classes.
Although investigators found evidence that may support allegations of grade changes during the audit of the past five years, there was no evidence to support the other allegations, the report said. Mainly, investigators said the internal controls and recordkeeping were found to be inadequate.
“The auditors did not appear to understand the difficult role of the principal, nor understand the goals of the school,” Wells said. “If the goal of this charter school is to give disadvantaged students the most rigorous curriculum possible, and auditors are recommending that this practice be evaluated, they are out of touch with the mission of the school.”
Alvarez, who was principal and director of Preuss since its founding in 1999, denied the accuracy of the audit, according to published reports. She resigned as principal and will fulfill her contract by serving as adviser to UCSD’s senior vice chancellor of academic affairs until June 30 of this year.
“In our experience, teachers are not disciplined for giving students poor grades,” Wells said. “They are more likely to be disciplined for failing to provide adequate instruction.”
The auditors concluded that many grade changes were favorable to the outcome of the student, but some grades were not suppressed appropriately. This would mean that, even though a student repeated a course after receiving a D or an F, their transcript showed the original, lower grade.
But the group of five professors rejected these findings in their letter. They wrote, ¦it appeared to us…that the information and the conclusions highlighted in the report may not be supported by the data.”
The professors said the errors found in the transcripts at the Preuss School may “have occurred at very small rates, not significantly different from other schools ….” They also said the errors may have been unintentional and random.
Although the audit’s findings resulted in Alvarez stepping down as principal and a committee of professors and administrative representatives continues to challenge the audit’s accuracy, JaCoby said the current situation has calmed.
“It’s pretty much status quo right now,” she said.
While Alvarez continues to remain central to the issue, Wells and others urge officials to take a second look at the findings of the audit.
“We are dismayed that the university allowed the audit findings to be released without adequately investigating the role of the school principal in leading classroom instruction and student achievement progress,” Wells said. “We also are concerned about the lack of due process for one of our administrators and feel strongly that the university should apologize for any and all damage that has been done to her reputation and to that of the school.”