(Updated Below)

Sharon McLoone reports for the Old Town Alexandria Patch that Alexandria Virginia City Public Schools Superintendent Morton Sherman announced last Friday evening that ACPS has placed an employee on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into “possible testing irregularities” in the ACPS Adult Education Program.

According to an ACPS statement, this incident provides evidence as to why restructuring ACPS Adult Education is so critical. “[N]ow is the right time to restructure this program with licensed, experienced staff to ensure proper management, reporting, and instruction is taking place for the sake of our students. ”

As McLoone notes in her story, Sherman and the School Board’s efforts to restructure the program have been the subject of considerable controversy.

In an odd coincidence, “Sherman and the School Board” was also the name of that really terrible band that played at your prom in 1966.

You can read the entire ACPS statement here.

Questions concerning assessment data collection are not unheard of in adult education. It would be interesting to know what warranted placing an employee on leave in this particular case.

UPDATE 4/6/12: Michael Lee Pope of Connection Newspapers has provided details on the specific issues cited by the Division of Technology, Career and Adult Education and Literacy Services in the memorandum they sent to ACPS. According to the article, the memorandum “documented an inordinate number of adult education students received the same score on a basic skills test. It also pointed out that a total of 95 students supposedly took a speaking and comprehension test on the same day.”

UPDATE 4/11/12: More details from Lisa Gartner of The Washington Examiner.