I worked at a school which cheated

[proud2BlibKansan]

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Our principal would trade away his worst performing students to his friends' schools in other parts of Brooklyn, thus improving his odds of raising his, I mean our school's, test scores. I don't know exactly what his friends got in return, but our principal got his $15,000 bonus 3 years in a row for raising test scores, and then he retired (in NYC at the time a Principal's retirement income was based on his final 3 years of service).

We didn't choose students based on test scores, that would be too obvious. Instead our principal relied on average attendance and word of mouth about good programs from which to choose students. Our 9th grade class in my 2nd year of teaching is the strongest class academically ever to attend my old school in NYC as a result. As soon as our principal retired, we got an influx of students from the poorer performing neighbourhood schools, along with a string of awful principals one after the other.

When we needed 3 out of our 4 weakest students to pass the state Regent's in math in order to avoid being classified as a failing school, each of whom was classified as a "Special Education" student, they all got readers for the exam (one of them also got a scribe). "Are you sure you want to pick B?"

We regularly "scrubbed" our test scores and any of them which were close to passing we reread until we had found creative ways to award them points so that they passed. No one got an almost passing score. Not one single child. I thought it was common practice, I had no idea this was even frowned upon. When one of our students had forgotten to draw a line in her diagram, we all left the room and when we came back, mysteriously we realized she hadn't actually forgotten to draw the line. How lucky!

more . . . http://davidwees.com/content/i-worked-school-which-cheated

[Tatiana]

1. This is what happens when success is based on test scores.

Authentic teaching and well-rounded curriculum go out the window. When your income literally depends on how well students score on some test, you might feel as if you will do anything to ensure the necessary students pass. Anything.

Now, I've never done such a thing, but I've definitely been pressured by administration to do so. This is all a result of NCLB... one of the worst pieces of education legislation ever passed. Luckily I had the union to back me up (and my principal on a personal voice recorder telling me to cheat). Standardized tests are only one tool to be used in assessing whether or not students are learning and/or making academic progress.

We need to get back to the "old school" use of standardized test scores. I remember in Illinois we had the Stanford and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. No one's job depended on how well students did on those tests. If anything, teachers used them as a gauge to either accelerate instruction or review certain topics.

Until we get rid of NCLB, you will still see different school districts and staff cheating on high stakes exams. Remove the "high stakes" and you will get more authentic results on these exams.

[Jazz Ambassador]

2. So, as a teacher, this guy is apparently

1) Remarkably stupid ("We regularly "scrubbed" our test scores and any of them which were close to passing we reread until we had found creative ways to award them points so that they passed...I thought it was common practice, I had no idea this was even frowned upon." Jesus Fucking Christ, are you kidding me?)

2) Incapable of writing a blog post -- or even the headline of a blog post -- about education in standard, grammatical English.

And I suspect he thinks he's making other people look bad. Oy.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. 1) It IS common practice - so common I suppose it seems okay

I believe he's talking about the regents exams in NY that are scored by teachers. And yes, that's how they are scored.

2) Yes, I noticed that too but I thought the content was relevant and I understood the point so I ignored the error - which is pretty common. And hey, it's a blog, where perfect grammar doesn't always matter. :shrug:

[Jazz Ambassador]

4. Would you cut the same ethical slack

to somebody at Lehman Brothers, or Countywide Mortgage, or Enron? Because I'm pretty sure they were all just engaged in common practice, in the context of their organizations.

And I'm normally not a grammar nazi, but if you're going to blog about standardized testing -- and implicitly come down on the side of the argument that says that testing is bad and teachers should have more freedom to exercise their own judgment -- it's unseemly and counterproductive to do so in a fashion that makes you look like you didn't pass high school English.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I'm not cutting anyone slack

Just explaining that it is - by all accounts - common practice.

That doesn't mean I support the practice or think it's okay. For the record, I don't. This is also the reason I don't volunteer to score high stakes exams. I'd rather not have to walk out in protest.

I agree with you about the importance of correct grammar in a piece about education. However, it was one silly (and common) mistake. I see many more and far more atrocious errors in my local newspaper on a daily basis. I think the rest of the blogsphere gave up on this grammar war a long time ago. Sadly.

[Lord_Proprietor]

9. I agree with you about the importance of correct grammar and..

All the other items necessary to send a student out into the world of work, i.e., free enterprise/business. My schools, when I was a principal, in addition to the basic core curriculum, stressed socially correct behavior: decorum, etiquette, good form, dress incl. hair style, table manners, propriety, and.... When an employer, I told the students, might ask you out to lunch it's not to just 'feed you', but to observe your ability to converse in proper English awa table etiquette, etc., because you will be representing "The company" you are applying to join as and employee.

I don't like what has happened to our public schools. Serious educators have lost control in so many areas; that's not good. I believe in a hard core basic curriculum with (no feely good courses) to prepare a student to face the difficult task in the future. Teaching correct social mores, hard work and honesty in everyday business it best.

BTW, I think the NCLB of the 'Bush Administration' is an educational farce! I was hoping President Obama would cancel it.

[smoogatz]

7. You may be missing the point.

Which seems to be that basing school funding and teacher/administration salaries on testing alone is almost guaranteed to result in widespread cheating. He's not saying that such cheating is okay--he IS saying that the system that produces it is stupid.

[Iggo]

5. Wow.

You, like, totally missed the point.

:P

[Jazz Ambassador]

8. Nah, I get it. But

my point is that the pro-testing forces tend to regard teachers as stupid and unethical (that's one of the reasons we need testing, in their view: because we can't trust teachers). So for a teacher to "blow the whistle" on testing in a fashion that makes the teacher himself look stupid and unethical is actually counterproductive, politically.

[davidwees]

10. Stupid and unethical teacher here responding

Hi there.

I'm the stupid and unethical teacher to which you are referring.

1. People make mistakes, even on blog posts.
2. The only cheating I was personally involved in was the scrubbing, and I think if you view it from the perspective of someone completely outside the system, you might believe that someone would be naive enough to not think that was cheating. I only realized years later when I read an article talking about how the NYC DOE was attempting to curb the practice of scrubbing that it was wrong.
3. I'm not trying to make other people look bad, although I will admit that I think I succeeded in making our school administration look bad. I mentioned no names, and did not link, at least in this story, to the school in question. I'm trying to point out that the problems with cheating recently found in Atlanta are widespread throughout the US system.
4. I think NCLB is extremely problematic and definitely a huge part of the problem in US education.

BTW before you go bad mouthing people, you might want to remember two words:

"Referrer logs"

Thank you,

David Wees

[Capitalocracy]

13. Think you'd be up for an interview on the subject?

If so, email me, [email protected].

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[hfojvt]

15. Now I am wondering when you graduated.

Also, I do not see a problem with the headline. Is it supposed to be 'that' instead of 'which'? You think which's some kind of huge problem?

[Capitalocracy]

11. They knew this would happen when they created NCLB.

And if they didn't, I think it happened on the Simpsons multiple times. I think everyone saw this coming. Who knows, maybe it was the plan all along to force schools to cheat in order to survive, and then run a smear campaign against them when they took the bait. NCLB should've been trashed on Obama's first day in office.

[joshcryer]

12. I got my license almost 20 years ago because the exam giver saw I'd missed a question...

...she left the score sheet right there in front of me and pretended to be doing something else. It was obvious what she was doing as it was the third time that day I'd taken the written exam (I am very nervous taking tests like that. and two times prior I'd come one single point shy of passing) and they were about to close up for the day.

I'll never forget that. Just thought about that due to the part about one of the students forgetting to draw a line on her diagram.