Cheating the System

A great Philadelphia Inquirer story
today highlighted the possibility for organized cheating in the administration
of standardized tests required under NCLB. It is a little secret we all know is
going on, but only a few states are taking steps to prevent and prosecute
schools that cross the line.



Earlier in this blog, I
stated that this Edjurist is O.K. with states and administrators that try to
stave off low test scores as long as possible.  I stand by that statement.
However, cheating is unacceptable. My feeling, though, is that we have very few
districts where there are conscious decisions being made to cheat the system.
Probably, confusion is reigning. Administrators are taking steps they do not
know are illegal or considered cheating by state or federal standards. This is
just not something there is a lot of information on yet; therefore,
administrators do not clearly understand where the lines are. Certainly in the
present situation (where their jobs increasingly depend on test scores) where
there is a fuzzy line between good and bad, they are going to push the envelope
and claim ignorance. What’s the worst that can happen? They lose their jobs –
that was going to happen anyway. More information for administrators is what’s
needed here, not more supervision.  



Additionally, the story mentions that some states have statistical procedures
in place to measure anomalies - where scores jump a lot in one year. When such
a jump occurs there is an investigation, and possible sanctions. I find it ironic
that this is occurring. NCLB demands such anomalous jumps in test scores to
meet the100 percent proficiency demand, but when they do happen, we assume
there is foul play. Just something ironic about that.