Paul Socolar '77 Uncovers a Test Cheating Scandal

Staff members of The Notebook, a community newspaper and Web site that covers Philadelphia public schools, at work in their office last week. Jessica Kourkounis for The New York Times

A New York Times article this week credited the The Notebook, a Philadelphia community newspaper and website founded by Paul Socolar ’77, with uncovering the latest scandal over altered test scores. Reporters at The Notebook, which covers public schools, pored over a massive report from Pennsylvania state education officials and found that  89 schools had been identified as having an extraordinary number of erasures, as well as doubtful gains on reading and math tests.  According to the Times article, “Mr. Socolar, a data fanatic, calculated that at some of these schools, the odds that the erasures had happened randomly were one in 100 trillion.”

Staff members of The Notebook, a community newspaper and Web site that covers Philadelphia public schools, at work in their office last week. Photo: Jessica Kourkounis for The New York Times