State Education Department Hires Test Security Director

State Education Department (SED) Commissioner John B. King, Jr. today announced he has appointed Tina Sciocchetti as Executive Director of Test Security and Educator Integrity.  Sciocchetti currently serves as Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York.  Sciocchetti’s new position was created as the result of recommendations made in a report by Special Investigator Henry Greenberg on SED’s test integrity procedures.  Greenberg presented the report to the New York State Board of Regents earlier this week.

"Our goal is to make sure every student graduates from high school college- and career- ready," Commissioner King said.  "We need accurate and fair assessments to help measure our progress toward that goal.  The overwhelming majority of teachers and administrators just want to do the right thing; they would never think of hurting their students by undermining the integrity of the state assessment system. 

"We’re developing the investigative and deterrence capacity to protect our teachers, administrators and, most importantly, our students from the kinds of testing scandals that have occurred in other states.  Tina Sciocchetti has the expertise, experience and skills to build the strongest test integrity safeguards in the nation."

In her new role, Sciocchetti will also be responsible for overseeing teacher and administrator discipline, including the Department's enforcement of moral character regulatory provisions that are applied when certified educators are found to have engaged in misconduct, ranging from test integrity violations to inappropriate relationships with students.

Sciocchetti has served in her current position since 1999.  Prior to that, she was Assistant United States Attorney in Washington, D.C.  Sciocchetti is a graduate of Union College and earned her Juris Doctor from Northwestern University.