The U.S. Department of Education’s and Five State Educational Agencies’ Systems of Internal Control Over Statewide Test Results

Our audit found that the Department and the five SEAs reviewed had systems of internal control designed to prevent and detect inaccurate, unreliable, or incomplete Statewide test results; however, these systems did not always require corrective action if indicators of inaccurate, unreliable, or incomplete test results were found. Our audit found that the Department and the SEAs could take steps to improve the effectiveness of the systems and that the Department could help SEAs improve their systems of internal control by emphasizing, during its reviews of SEAs, the importance of using forensic analyses to more effectively identify schools with possible test administration irregularities.