State assessment observers report more ethics breaches, proctoring gaps; note student attention falls after about 40 minutes

Utah State Board of Education assessment staff reported an increase in ethics breaches and proctoring issues observed during spring administrations of RISE and Utah Aspire Plus, and urged local education agencies to strengthen proctor training and administration protocols.

Staff said they collected 631 student survey responses, 41 teacher responses and 10 administrator responses across spring observation visits, and conducted roughly 90 U.S. Department of Education observation visits at 15 schools. For RISE specifically, staff said 558 student surveys were returned in the Southwestern region; observers recorded about 650 student observations across RISE sessions. For Utah Aspire Plus, staff reported 83 student survey responses and 304 students observed.

Why it matters: Assessment integrity affects score validity and the reliability of data that schools use for instruction and accountability. State staff flagged several recurring…