4 things we know about Arizona teacher database errors
Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas is holding errors against the Education Board.
- The errors involved teacher disciplines big and small
- Many variables likely factored into errors
A USA TODAY NETWORK report published Sunday has found fundamental defects in teacher-screening systems across the country, resulting in a failure to keep educators with a history of serious misconduct out of classrooms and away from schoolchildren in the nation's more than 15,000 school districts.
Arizona's problems recording teacher disciplinary actions are already well-documented.
A December report by the state Department of Education revealed more than one-third of teacher disciplinary actions had been inaccurately recorded into Arizona and national databases that are supposed to act as a deterrent for troubled teachers.
Since 2010, 79 of 230 disciplinary actions handed down by the state Board of Education were not appropriately recorded by state investigators into Arizona's teacher-certification database or the national clearinghouse.
The primary reason: Investigators were not adequately trained on how to record the information, according to the board's executive director.
The state's lead investigator abruptly resigned in the aftermath of the findings. Board members, like the public, questioned why the gaffes happened in the first place.
The board's staff has been working on installing new protocols that streamline the steps investigators have to take when logging data so there's less room for human error.
The topic is expected be brought up again at the Board of Education's Feb. 25 meeting.
In Arizona, the state's Board of Education oversees teacher investigations and ultimately decides any disciplinary action. The state Department of Education handles the teacher certification process.
Broken discipline tracking systems let teachers flee troubled pasts
Here are four things we know so far about the state's teacher-database slip-ups:
1. The errors involved discipline big and small
The troubled teachers involved in the inaccurate reporting included some who'd been handed minor discipline — such as a letter of censure — as well as teachers who were stripped of their credentials for major offenses, according to the Education Department's December report.
One teacher was given a letter of censure because she "gave peanuts to (a) child with allergy."
In another inaccurately reported case, a substitute teacher agreed to a suspension after investigators found she gave students answers to the AIMS test, Arizona's former standardized exam.
Other cases resulted in either the revocation or voluntary surrender of teaching credentials for offenses that included teaching while under the influence of alcohol, having inappropriate relationships with students and drug and child molestation convictions.
2. Many variables likely factored into errors
While poor training was pegged as the main reason for the errors, other possibilities came to light at recent board meetings.
Routine turnover was one of them.
Charles Easaw, the board's former lead investigator who resigned in December, was the Investigation Unit's longest-tenured member. He'd served in the unit since 2006, and many investigators came and went during that time.
Investigators also weren't following a uniform procedure when it came to recording information in the databases.
How to look up the background of teachers in every state
3. Investigators are taking new precautionary measures — and dealing with a large backlog of cases
Karol Schmidt, executive director for the state Board of Education, recommended proposed changes at a meeting later in December that would help increase the accuracy of the seven-person Investigative Unit.
Some of those recommendations have been implemented, including:
- Giving investigators better training.
- Creating a three-step verification process that would create a system of checks and balances so that no one person would be responsible for ensuring data is accurately recorded.
- Giving inspectors yearly evaluations, which hadn't been happening.
It was later revealed at a January board meeting that, as of mid-January, the state had a backlog of 332 teacher investigations. About 75 percent of those cases are from 2013-15, Schmidt said.
Board members and staff did not go into detail as to what has led to the backlog.
4. Diane Douglas is holding it against the board
Douglas, the state superintendent of public instruction, has been critical of the board since the findings were revealed, using it to make her case in the yearlong power struggle between her and the board.
After the December board meeting, Douglas said she was "shocked and appalled that this has been allowed to continue all this time."
"We can see now people who are not being properly supervised are not dotting the I's and crossing the T's the way they should be to make sure it's reportable."
Douglas doubled down last week at the Arizona Senate when she testified against a proposed bill she said would dilute her authority in favor of the Education Board.
The legislation, Senate Bill 1416, would settle the score between the state superintendent and state Board of Education partly by removing ambiguous language in the state's statutes to say definitively that the board has control over its own staff.
During her testimony, Douglas called the board "irresponsible" and ill-equipped to handle employees because it meets so infrequently throughout the year.
