Comptroller’s audit raps Saratoga district on grades

Student grades in the Saratoga Springs City School District were improperly changed, with most of the changes bringing grades from failing to passing, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in an audit released Monday.

The audit reviewed the computer and software systems that track, record and maintain grades in six districts: Arlington, Elmira, Fairport, Freeport, Williamsville and Saratoga Springs. All but Williamsville, which does not track or record grade changes, adjusted grades without proper documentation or supporting information, the audit found.

The audit spanned computer data from July 2013 to May 2015.

“When proper controls are not in place, there is the possibility of student grades being inappropriately altered,” DiNapoli said in a news release. “When grades are changed, there needs to be a record justifying the changes. These lax policies could easily be manipulated and graduation rates, college placement and teacher performance could be compromised by these system weaknesses.”

In a statement, the Saratoga Springs district said it has worked closely with the comptroller’s officer throughout the past year and recognizes the value of audits “as a means to identify opportunities for improving district operations through policy and practice.”

A corrective action plan will be submitted to the comptroller’s office in the coming weeks and immediate actions will be taken to meet the recommendations, the district said.

“We see the recommendations in the report as an opportunity to update longstanding practices and to develop appropriate policy moving forward,” Superintendent Michael Piccirillo said in a statement. “We also believe we have a high quality staff with a great deal of integrity that takes the grading process very seriously.”

One example of an improper grade change at Saratoga was in July 2013, according to the report. An Earth science grade was changed from a 54 to 65 for the 2012-2013 school year, the audit states. “The counselor indicated a teacher had called and requested the change.”

Among the report’s findings specific to Saratoga Springs:

– 16,274 grades were changed by users with heightened permission, which typically refers to guidance counselors.

–90 of those 16,274 grade changes were tested and 61 percent, or 55 grade changes, were undocumented.

– Of those 90 grade changes, 36 brought the grade from failing to passing. Three changes were from no grade to passing; 11 increased the grade; and five brought the grade down.

– 126 grade changes were made by users with heightened permissions that pertained to previous schools years. Of 22 changes tested, 21 went undocumented.

Many grade changes were made possible by the lockout date — when teachers can no longer make changes to grades — being pushed back, the audit found. At Saratoga, 11,918 grade changes were changed in this manner, according to the audit.

The lockout date for the first marking period in 2013-2014 was changed nine times, extending the original Nov. 12, 2013 lockout date out as far as one year, the audit found.

“In Saratoga Springs, the Program Coordinator told us that bypassing the lock out date was more productive than taking the time to obtain the appropriate permissions to modify the grades,” the report states.

The audit also found that Saratoga and the four other districts did not effectively limit access to student grading systems. The districts typically lacked proper policies for adding system users, establishing users’ access rights, deactivating or modifying user accounts, granting user permissions and monitoring user access, the audit found.

DiNapoli said the districts, including Saratoga Springs, should implement new grade-changing policies; restrict the ability to make grade changes after the close of a marking period to designated individuals; and retain documentation showing who authorized changes and why they were made.

The districts should also periodically review grade changes to determine their appropriateness and update annual reporting to the state Education Department, the state comptroller said.

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