Trajan
conscientia mille testes
well, the dog ate my homework the test was to hard etc. 'out' being employed by cheating teachers is just symptomatic of the general malaise in our learning institutions.
When Teachers CheatAnd Then Blame the Tests
It's the students who suffer most.
July 16 2011
Only two years ago, Atlanta Public Schools were the toast of the educational establishment. Scores on standardized tests had been risingskyrocketing, in some casesfor a decade. In February 2009, schools chief Beverly Hall was feted as national superintendent of the year.
Two months later, dozens of Ms. Hall's teachers and principals engaged in the annual ritual required to produce such success: They cheated on the state standardized test.
The difference between 2009 and previous years of cheating (dating back at least as far as 2006, and perhaps 2001) was that reporters at my newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, questioned the schools' remarkable scores on Georgia's Criterion-Referenced Competency Test. Those articles prompted an investigation by then-Gov. Sonny Perdue, and this month the devastating final report arrived. It uncovered cheating by adults in 44 schools, covering 1,508 classesalmost all of them serving low-income, minority students.
snip-
Many politicians and teachers have responded to the report by blaming the test and accountability measures like No Child Left Behind. This is exactly the wrong reaction: Atlanta shows us why public schools need more, not fewer, accountability measures.
First, a bit about more about the scandal. The probe, led by a former state attorney general and a former district attorney, built upon a testing company's analysis of every 2009 test answer sheet from every Georgia elementary and middle-school student in three subjects. Each answer sheet was reviewed for erasure marks indicating that an incorrect answer had been changed to a correct answer. The company, CTB McGraw Hill, then identified schools with suspiciously high numbers of erasure marks.
snip-
Punishments are already being dished out. Five of Ms. Hall's lieutenants have resigned or have been removed from their jobs. A sixth, who left Atlanta to be superintendent of a small school system near Dallas, was placed on administrative leave Monday after parents protested her hiring.
Ms. Hall didn't seek an extension of her contract, which expired June 30. But rather than ride off to a cushy position at some foundation, she'll likely spend the next couple of years facing attempts (perhaps lawsuits) by Atlanta Public Schools to reclaim some of the more than $580,000 in bonuses she received. Then there are the federal grants her schools received, thanks to the No Child Left Behind law, for their stellar performance: Ms. Hall may be asked to explain herself as part of an FBI fraud investigation.
Atlanta students face the worst consequences. Some current high schoolers may never have gotten a true appraisal on the state test, and many were denied the extra help they'd have gotten if their real scores were reported properly. "It's honestly sickening that these people who are supposed to look out for kids took advantage of the students' and the parents' trust," Ashley Brown, a 2011 graduate of Atlanta's Grady High School, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
more at-
Kyle Wingfield: When Teachers Cheat—And Then Blame the Tests - WSJ.com
When Teachers CheatAnd Then Blame the Tests
It's the students who suffer most.
July 16 2011
Only two years ago, Atlanta Public Schools were the toast of the educational establishment. Scores on standardized tests had been risingskyrocketing, in some casesfor a decade. In February 2009, schools chief Beverly Hall was feted as national superintendent of the year.
Two months later, dozens of Ms. Hall's teachers and principals engaged in the annual ritual required to produce such success: They cheated on the state standardized test.
The difference between 2009 and previous years of cheating (dating back at least as far as 2006, and perhaps 2001) was that reporters at my newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, questioned the schools' remarkable scores on Georgia's Criterion-Referenced Competency Test. Those articles prompted an investigation by then-Gov. Sonny Perdue, and this month the devastating final report arrived. It uncovered cheating by adults in 44 schools, covering 1,508 classesalmost all of them serving low-income, minority students.
snip-
Many politicians and teachers have responded to the report by blaming the test and accountability measures like No Child Left Behind. This is exactly the wrong reaction: Atlanta shows us why public schools need more, not fewer, accountability measures.
First, a bit about more about the scandal. The probe, led by a former state attorney general and a former district attorney, built upon a testing company's analysis of every 2009 test answer sheet from every Georgia elementary and middle-school student in three subjects. Each answer sheet was reviewed for erasure marks indicating that an incorrect answer had been changed to a correct answer. The company, CTB McGraw Hill, then identified schools with suspiciously high numbers of erasure marks.
snip-
Punishments are already being dished out. Five of Ms. Hall's lieutenants have resigned or have been removed from their jobs. A sixth, who left Atlanta to be superintendent of a small school system near Dallas, was placed on administrative leave Monday after parents protested her hiring.
Ms. Hall didn't seek an extension of her contract, which expired June 30. But rather than ride off to a cushy position at some foundation, she'll likely spend the next couple of years facing attempts (perhaps lawsuits) by Atlanta Public Schools to reclaim some of the more than $580,000 in bonuses she received. Then there are the federal grants her schools received, thanks to the No Child Left Behind law, for their stellar performance: Ms. Hall may be asked to explain herself as part of an FBI fraud investigation.
Atlanta students face the worst consequences. Some current high schoolers may never have gotten a true appraisal on the state test, and many were denied the extra help they'd have gotten if their real scores were reported properly. "It's honestly sickening that these people who are supposed to look out for kids took advantage of the students' and the parents' trust," Ashley Brown, a 2011 graduate of Atlanta's Grady High School, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
more at-
Kyle Wingfield: When Teachers Cheat—And Then Blame the Tests - WSJ.com
