AUNTIE P. / FLICKR
A handful of charter schools managed by the Chicago-based Concept Schools are already under examination by both the Ohio Department of Education and federal authorities.And now, 19 of the charter chain’s Ohio schools will be facing scrutiny from another state-level office.State Auditor Dave Yost said his office is launching a special audit of nineteen of the groups' schools.
"We’re taking a look at the testing procedures and the integrity of those systems and the data stream," he said. "We had received reports that there may have been some folks who were acting outside of the proper rules and protocols, so we’re going to take a look at that."
One such report came in a June letter from the Ohio Education Association, and includes an account from a former teacher at Concept Schools’ Horizon Science Academy in Dayton, claiming he may have witnessed test data being altered or otherwise manipulated.Yost’s audit is separate from the Department of Education’s examination of that same school, launched after it heard testimony from several former teachers alleging racism and sexual misconduct .