Arizona Department of Education has indicated that there will be no repercussions regarding a prompt from a state standardized test that was shared publicly by Peoria Unified School District governing board President Heather Rooks.
In a March 30 video post, Rooks shared a writing prompt that her fourth-grade son told her about after taking the Arizona Academic Standards Assessment earlier that day.
The AASA is the state standardized test for grades 3-8 that covers English language arts and mathematics.
The video Rooks posted sparked a strong response from some community members on social media.
On March 31, the district received an email alerting them to the video and that the video potentially shared content from the AASA fourth-grade writing prompt regaring electric cars and greenhouse gases.
As a result, the district sent a letter to staff stating they had forwarded the video to the Arizona Department of Education to submit a test irregularity report, as required by a test security agreement.
“We recognize that this has caused some concern among our employees, as you work so diligently to preserve the integrity of our tests,” the letter states. “ADE has indicated that no irregularities were identified for test invalidations resulting in misadministration in connection with the video.”
Rooks called for an item at the April 9 governing board meeting to make it clear, she said, that there was no irregularity concern for the district.
“I went on my own media page. I shared my frustration with what my child told me. It’s not like he read the complete prompt to me. It was his topic, his frustration, and he was angry,” Rooks said. “He was upset so that causes me to be upset as a mom. And I should have a right as a mom to share something on my own page of a frustration that I had that day.”
Meet Philip Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.
Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater.
Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.
Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.
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