Teacher Charged w/ Changing State Test Scores

A popular Peekskill social studies teacher faces felony charges for allegedly altering the test scores of two separate state exams in order to give them passing scores.

Allison Risoli was arraigned this morning in Peekskill city court and charged with felony counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, according to the Westchester County District Attorney's Office.

Risoli, who chaired high school’s social studies department, is responsible for delivering completed Regents examinations to the district’s data analyst. The data analyst then scans those test scores and submits them to the Southern Westchester BOCES  Lower Hudson Regional Information Center.

Investigators allege that Risoli returned to the data analyst’s office several days after the test scores were delivered to BOCES and indicated there was a problem with a few students’ answer sheets.

While reviewing the scores, Risoli allegedly changed two answer sheets by changing an incorrect answer with an “X” and filling in the correct answer.

The changes were discovered after a review of the answer sheets that had previously  been submitted differed from the ones Risoli allegedly altered.

Risoli was released to reappear in court on June 3.

School district officials were unavailable for comment Monday.

The Risoli case is the second criminal investigation. The district attorney’s office is investigating unrelated allegationsthat some guidance counselors allegedly gave course credits to some students in the high school for coursed that weren’t being offered.

Assistant District Attorney Shara Abraham of the Public Integrity Bureau is prosecuting the  case.