Wednesday, April 11, 2012
In Our Schools - Cheating to look good
Our school systems are a tangled mess.
Together, elected officials, governments, and unions have, so far, been unable to solve the many problems of education.
Money, power, and yes, votes have become the real goals, and many children suffer because of that...
Together, elected officials, governments, and unions have, so far, been unable to solve the many problems of education.
Money, power, and yes, votes have become the real goals, and many children suffer because of that...
Heather Vogell, John Perry and Alan Judd and M.B. Pell combined on this informative article for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
"The newspaper analyzed test results for 69,000 public schools and found high concentrations of suspect math or reading scores in school systems from coast to coast. The findings represent an unprecedented examination of the integrity of school testing.
The analysis doesn’t prove cheating. But it reveals that test scores in hundreds of cities followed a pattern that, in Atlanta, indicated cheating in multiple schools.
A tainted and largely unpoliced universe of untrustworthy test results underlies bold changes in education policy, the findings show. The tougher teacher evaluations many states are rolling out, for instance, place more weight than ever on tests.
Perhaps more important, the analysis suggests a broad betrayal of schoolchildren across the nation. As Atlanta learned after cheating was uncovered in half its elementary and middle schools last year, falsified test results deny struggling students access to extra help to which they are entitled, and erode confidence in a vital public institution."
