By Jay Kernis
Rock Center
The Atlanta Public Schools System is still recovering from the worst cheating scandal in American history.
This past July, investigators appointed by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue issued the results of a 10-month probe into alleged test tampering. Investigators Bob Wilson, a former Dekalb County district attorney, Mike Bowers, a former state attorney general, and former Atlanta police detective Richard Hyde concluded that 178 teachers and principals had cheated in 44 schools across the Atlanta system.
Investigators were looking specifically at the results of the spring 2009 CRCT, the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test taken by 1st through 8th graders. The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement had conducted an erasure analysis on the standardized tests and there were just too many wrong-to-right erasures in too many classrooms.
Before they began their own inquiry, the investigators called in Dr. Gregory Cizek to double check the state’s erasure study data. Cizek is professor of Educational Management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of “Cheating on Tests: How to Do It, Detect and Prevent It.”
Cizek told Rock Center’s Harry Smith that scanning machines, processing 500 answer sheets a minute, can easily spot erasures that are statistically impossible to achieve without some outside help.
Cizek said, “It was just sickening. It was really heartbreaking to see the scale. I saw answer sheets with 25 erasures—the student’s entire performance had been altered. Whole classrooms of kids were told: you’re performing well—when, in fact, it was an educator or some other adult doctoring their answer sheets. It was just awful.”
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hey brian.. you and harry had a good laugh on the cheating scandal.
no where in your report is there a demand for the payback of the bonuses form the teachers and administration.
you didn't finish YOUR job either.
America's News that's Stewpid
You just hit the smallest tip of the iceberg. I have been a teacher in the Aldine School District for 27 years, and since "no child left behind", the push for more standardized tests, bonuses based on your students test scores, and the hint of losing your job if the scores weren't high enough- cheating by the teachers is rampant. Your principal's yearly bonus is based on these test scores,too. We are so scheduled with tests that in the first 60 days of this school year 39 days were set aside for testing days. The test scores are graphed and posted in the main hallway and no consideration is given for special needs students or students who came to you reading a year to 18 months below grade level.
It has gotten so bad that I am retiring rather than lie any more. The students I taught 20 years ago got a better education than my current students can ever hope to get. I can't do it any more. This is not why I became an educator. I didn't dedicate 27 years and thousands of my own dollars to prepare children just to take a test.
If we don't get to the root of this problem and once again start teaching students to think and to learn for the joy of learning, our education system is going to fail.
too late, they already have failed. what happened to teachers teaching? and having values, honesty and morals and intergrity? great role models and how you pass the blame off, like it was the systems fault. if you would have not passed these kids... the world would have seen the systems failures and adjusted for them when something could have been done. its now to late for several years worth of students MY TAX DOLLARS PAID FOR>>> HOW DARE YOU NOW SAY YOU WILL JUST RETIRE AND WALK OUT. PAY THE MONEY YOU STOLE BACK TO THE KIDS WHO NEED AN EDUCATION. I CANT BELIEVE TEACHERS CONSPIRED TO DO THIS FOR MONEY? AND YOU WONDER WHY WE WANT VOUCHERS AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS? COME ON REALLY?
The reason schools are feeling so much pressure that leads to terrible things such as the Atlanta cheating scandal is all of our schools are subject to the "No Child Left Behind Act". When you have schools in which too many parents don't care if their children even get to school or not, and too many children don't care if they learn, the "NCLB" Act punishes teachers and principals. The teachers and principals have no control over parents who don't care to instill in their children the importance of school, and home is where good students are nurtured. No school can overcome such odds as these, as hard as they may try. The schools are under Big Brother's gun and are threatened with punitive measures if their schools don't meet NCLB criteria, when meeting those criteria in many cases is impossible. No Child Left Behind sounds just wonderful, but in reality IT DOES NOT WORK for many schools.
In regard to the Atlanta cheating scandal:
I thoroughly agree with c.thorn. The No Child Left Behind Act is the most ridiculous legislation ever passed regarding education. There are too many parents who don't care if their children get to school or not, study or not, do homework, etc. In turn, the children of these parents don't care either. No teacher or principal can force parents who simply don't care to care, and nurturing love of learning starts in the home. Of course these students pull the whole school down. Schools are under Big Brother's gun and are running scared, that's why cheating is rampant. It's human nature to try and find solutions when face with an insurmountable problem (satisfying "No Child Left Behind") and your livelihood is threatened.
SIMPLY NOT TRUE, THE LAW WAS A GOOD LAW, NO ONE GAVE IT THE RESPECT IT DESERVED...You all just found ways around it and a way to manipulate it...its almost to the point nowadays, who needs schools, teachers and the like, we have spell check, calculators and credit cards (no reason to know how to make change for a twenty). and to throw parents under the bus. maybe the welfare sucking crack heads spitting out kids, doesnt care, but 98.9% of parents do care, we are just overburdened working 2 jobs to pay the taxes to keep our kids in school your public school system, trusting in teachers to give a good education. merit pay works if you have the right business minded people working in the school systems, not socialist left leaning educators worried about satisfiying the government tit. be givers not takes...its just like obamacare if doctors do not want it to work...it wont. wait till the fraud runs ramapant thru that mess... so sad. so sad. {No teacher or principal can force parents who simply don't care to care, and nurturing love of learning starts in the home. Of course these students pull the whole school down.} WHAT A CROCK...PARENTS NEED TO FORCE TRACHERS TO DO THEIR DAM JOB. STOP KISSING EVERYONES A$$ AND STOP BLAMEING THE PARENTS./ DO YOUR JOB, PROBLEM IS THE UNIONS AND TEACHERS WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED YEARS AGO WERE NOT....THAT IS THE ISSUE. TEACH THE LITTLE HEATHENS AND MAKE THEM LEARN...SPARE THE ROD RING A BELL? IT SHOULD...
You missed the reason teachers and administrators were pushed to cheat. The answer is NCLB - "no child left behind " - the most outrageous and egregious legislation forced on passionate and caring people - accountability with no passion; no way to teach children. Threats of losing jobs, closing schools, not making "ayp" - annual yearly progress, an impossible goal year in and year out - shame on the Bush administration - they created "weapons of mass destruction" in the classroom - called standardized tests - what a waste of money, resources, time and energy.
I thought NCLB was written primarily by the late Ted Kennedy of MASS. A Democrate.
Originally the Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed by Lyndon B. Johnson as part of his "War on Poverty". For Heaven's sake stop blaming everything on Bush!
The NCLB pushed teachers to teach, not cheat. Don't blame NCLB. The teachers took the lazy, greedy way out and clearly failed. There is no excuse for cheating. So, now that this scandal has surfaced, what do we do about getting our future leaders and scientists and etc. educated??? The cheater teachers should pay back the bonuses and spend time in jail. The damage done to children is irreparable. But how wide spread is this problem and how do we find out? How about some suggestions on how to resolve the problem.
isnt blaming bush getting old, here's a new one blame obama...thans my new saying.
Thank you Bob s. and all the other "i wont pass the buck on bush" i cant waiot for the years from now obama bashing that will occur when we are all locked up in our cells...
The dishonesty doesn't stop with high school teachers and administrators, but continues in colleges with professors on administrative tracks to protect their colleagues and the institution as a whole. Students are shuffled into courses taught by professors whose performance evaluations are consistently questionable. Students become justifiably anxious when the core course they need to meet their major requirement is being taught by a less-than-adequate professor -- they can't drop the course; they're stuck and rightly fear that they won't pass the course. It's already known that a certain professor is terrible, and that students won't get the lesson they need, but the priority is saving a colleagues academic career -- keep his course on the schedule by any means necessary. Students pay high tuition, and often end up with a sub-standard education because of cronyism. These people protect each other; they create job security for each other -- if a student manages to graduate in spite of all the manipulation and politics, they considered themselves having done a fine job when in truth, the students are the last thing on their minds.
Brian hears a fact I went to school on th shore in Jersey. Yes I did my best to cheat and I tried everything anyone could ever think of. It never worked my matter how hard I tried. Now I will admit this news isn't really news as we see how many uneducated elected officials we see today. It was so embarrassing to see the House/Congress/Senate had to have the US Constitution read to them like children because none really knew how a Bill becomes Law. Many Law Makers/Reporters/Journalist/Citizens say President Obama voted against the Jobs Bill and the Debt plan. Sad even an 18 year old student tweeted her thought of Gov. Brownbacks speech and the Governor forgot the 1st Amendment. The Presidential Candidates are so dumb even kids in school want to debate them. What does that show the World? We have learned even freshman Law Makers got their degrees by their wealthy parents paying for it. Once they open their mouth it's clear they didn't learn anything. Even President Bush spoke at a graduate class in Princeton and told the students how he was drunk for four years but his rich Father got him a degree. Yes the President thought it was funny but others didn't think so and after the Movie it really wasn't funny. My Dad made us give our homework answers before we went to school and that was hard and I couldn't cheat, so I decided just to do the work.
You just accused many school districts and many teachers of cheating without providing any facts to support your claims! Shoddy journalism! You accused teachers and put questions into the minds of many parents of who have teachers who work many long hours to do the best they can for the children in their classes. It is unjustified and a generalization. Do a story on the pressures and expectations that are put on teachers that led to this cheating, and the reason that many teacher will leave teaching as soon as the economy improves. To be paid so little and have such great expectations and lack of support will drive them away. Every time they hear these types of accusations and innuendo they ask themselves - "Why do I do this?"
this is in reguards to the foodstamp rush at walmart. those people you showed have nice homes, nice clothes. but yet they need foodstamps.my husband and i are both disabled and live on a very limited income. high medical cost, but no help with food cost for us. explain to me how this works?
I retired as a Superintendent of Schools because of the insanity that's going on with the State and Federal government interfering with the education of our children. They are in the attack mode and refuse to give the help that is needed. Student DISCIPLINE and Parent Involvement would solve this whole problem. Students are not interested in high stakes testing but in learning (If mandated by parents). Does anyone think that a teacher wants to be labelled as a failure because of one test that was failed by a student? A student could pass a test today and fail the same test the next day depending on how he/she is feeling. The Government has screwed up Public Education intentionally. Google Aspen testing and see whose brother owns the business and that will tell you everything you need to know.
I can't believe school districts are so stupid that they have to erase answer sheets to cheat.
Here in Texas we use software and give the children benchmark tests almost monthly and the software tell us where the children are in relation to passing the test. Using tutoring as the reason for all the tests people don't notice that the software used gives a percentage of possibility of passing the test. In other words students are projected to fail. With this information they can put the students in catagories that their tests do not count in the results given to the public. Then of course Texas also had the TPM where students that fail can be counted if people think the student will pass the test in future years. Our Super got a $12,500 bonus for great test scores before he was arrested by the FBI.
As a teacher I am watching it happen. It is clear & I have proof but administration does not care. I was told that "they look good on paper". Students aren't getting the services they deserve because they tested too high. It is very upsetting to say the least. Maybe if Brian Williams came to my school there would be a sorry administrator and then students what get their education that their parents' tax dollars have paid for.
I wonder how the kids feel about this. It wouldn't do much for my self-esteem to know that my teacher cheated on a test so I'd pass. But then, if nobody in my family works for a living and I'm going to follow their career path anyway, what difference to test scores make?
It's not the fault of the"no child left behind policy". It is the greed and total lack of due care and diligence on the part of these"educators" who wanted more money
"No child left behind." meant just that. Push 'em through education be damned.
Every school in the country needs scrutiny. Who ever heard of self enforcement actually working honestly??
The government employees are all in bed together and take care of each other like organized crime families.
no child left behind was what it was susposed to be, help getting the child thru, you must have read the law wrong and worried about the money before you worried about the children....
As a current student, as a former student, I can assert that, this problem has be here all along, not just in the "no child left behind act." Fact of the matter is that many teachers, have had stupid laws, and stupid administrators for a very long time. When I was in Catholic School, discipline was somewhat allowed. Parents, were more involved, mine weren't, but many were. The SRA reading program,( The "hooked on Phonics') was a already utilized system my school had in the early 80's late 70's. Many parents, bought the program in the mid-1990's because Public schools ran away from Phonics. Reading and comprehension, are two of the MOST needed things a child needs in order to understand the demands of Adulthood. Yet, our schools stepped away from actually focusing on that first. This parental problem stems from the selfish and self-centerd world we live in, and corperate greed. Single parents cannot just step away for fear of loosing their jobs, and over privelaged parents who care nothing about their children, only that if their kids make them look good or not...need to really hear this because if you both don't change nothing will change.