We asked the Tennessee Department of Education the following questions below and received the following response from Elizabeth Fiveash, Assistant Commissioner at the Tennessee Department of Education.
- What type of analyses are used to determine testing irregularities in students’ answers?
- How is it discovered if a student, for example, answers with all C’s?
“This concern is mitigated in many ways by the nature of our test now. Our test is no longer completely a bubble test, and many of our questions are hand scored. Analyses are run after the assessments are completed to look for pattern scoring, and all reports of testing irregularity are investigated by the department. If it is determined that a student did not attempt to test (no answers or random answering), the test is nullified.”
Example: the photo above shows how the lettering alternates from ABDC to MPRS as well as other boxes that can appear on the answer sheet.