Houston's ABC 13 Undercover unit examined more than one million records of Texas teacher competency tests to find out how teachers were scoring on those exams. And found some major problems.
The scores are online.Cavitt started teaching with a probationary teaching certificate in September '04, two months before his first test to qualify as a teacher for fourth through eighth graders "On the first pass, we have an eighty five percent passing rate," said Texas Education Agency Commissioner Shirley Neely.
The passing score is 240. Cavitt made a 178. He would try two more times with the same result. He failed again in the summer. Hill says the probation should have ended.
"They should be able to teach that year, but certainly no longer," she said.
But in Texas, you get up to three years of probations. During the next year, Cavitt failed every certification test he took, even the basic teacher test - nine of them. His lowest score was 170.
Two-hundred-and-forty is passing. That's is clearly an F. But Cavitt is given more kids to teach.
"There had been no demonstration or expression of concern for his presence or his performance," said Assistant superintendent at Galena Park ISD, Bourke] Meagher.
The science teacher failed the science test two more times. His temporary certification expired. It was November of last year.
"We felt two years under such a probationary contract at this point was as far as we were willing to afford him the opportunity to prove himself," said Meagher.
So Cavitt wasn't qualified to teach next year's sixth-graders, but was left in class to teach this year's kids, like Quanisha Hagan, who now has to wonder.
ABC13 writes: "But perhaps our viewers should be glad that the king of failed teacher tests is not a teacher here, but in Brownsville. He's failed 74 of the 78 competency tests he's taken and he's still teaching. "
Report dated May 9, 2007
