Cheaters never prosper...if they can't keep their cheating secret!
The award-winning gains by Atlanta students were actually based on widespread cheating by 178 teachers and principals. A report from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (sounds important) has 82 of those educational professionals confessing to what is potentially the biggest cheating scandal in US history. Well, outside, all the relationships effected by Rehab in Las Vegas.
Not directly implicated (yet) is 12-year Superintendent Beverly Hall, who may have been named US Superintendent of the Year in 2009 largely because of those test results. Investigators say Hall likely knew, or should have known, what was going on, and point to her farewell address to teachers in June, when she acknowledged wrongdoing in the district, but cleverly blamed "other administrators". The report also claimed the district repeatedly refused to properly investigate or take responsibility for the cheating, and that principals were told not to cooperate with investigators.
In the spotlight now is the high stakes system of testing. Ten states now use test scores as the main criterion in teacher evaluations, while others reward high-scoring teachers with up to $25,000 bonuses. Get a low score? Principals could lose their jobs or entire schools can close.
If you're going to pay bonuses to educators who improve test scores in their classes, what lengths do you think they'll go to to succeed? This may have been the biggest, but only so far...
The award-winning gains by Atlanta students were actually based on widespread cheating by 178 teachers and principals. A report from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (sounds important) has 82 of those educational professionals confessing to what is potentially the biggest cheating scandal in US history. Well, outside, all the relationships effected by Rehab in Las Vegas.
Not directly implicated (yet) is 12-year Superintendent Beverly Hall, who may have been named US Superintendent of the Year in 2009 largely because of those test results. Investigators say Hall likely knew, or should have known, what was going on, and point to her farewell address to teachers in June, when she acknowledged wrongdoing in the district, but cleverly blamed "other administrators". The report also claimed the district repeatedly refused to properly investigate or take responsibility for the cheating, and that principals were told not to cooperate with investigators.
In the spotlight now is the high stakes system of testing. Ten states now use test scores as the main criterion in teacher evaluations, while others reward high-scoring teachers with up to $25,000 bonuses. Get a low score? Principals could lose their jobs or entire schools can close.
If you're going to pay bonuses to educators who improve test scores in their classes, what lengths do you think they'll go to to succeed? This may have been the biggest, but only so far...
1 comment:
Meanwhile Illinois is getting rid of examinations testing writing. I'm an examiner for the IBO and can tell you- I know pretty much which exams I'm marking come from the US, not only because of the lack of knowledge in the material (I mark history) but the lousy grammar. Students whose English is their second or third generally show a greater fluency and higher vocabulary. sic transit America...
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