New AJC investigation casts doubts on integrity of testing nationwide. Is there a whole lot of cheating going on?
In the cheating hall of fame, Atlanta may stand out, but it may not stand alone.
Nearly 200 school districts across the country have such suspicious test score patterns that the odds of them occurring by chance are worse than 1 in 1,000. And in 33 of those districts, the odds are worse than one in a million.
In a powerhouse investigation in Sunday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the investigative reporting team that uncovered test disparities in Atlanta Public Schools reveals the findings of a seven-month analysis of 1.6 million records from 70,000 public schools nationwide.
The AJC used freedom of information laws to collect test scores from 49 states — 14,743 districts and 70,000 tests – to look for the sort of patterns that signaled cheating.
Along with our own database reporters, the AJC consulted outside experts to assess our analysis. (Please pick up a Sunday AJC as it will outline all the detailed work that went into this investigation and all the care to check and recheck the findings.)
To be clear, the new AJC national analysis doesn’t establish that cheating occurred. But it points to the same troubling pattern later verified in Atlanta schools to be test tampering after a probe by an outraged Gov. Sonny Perdue.
The student performance rises and dips in many Atlanta schools turned out to be a seismograph of shame.
The findings also point to a universal truth: Hold people accountable to standards, benchmarks or quotas that they feel are unrelenting, unrealistic and unfair and some will cheat.
“We are putting way too much pressure on people to raise scores at a very large clip without holding them accountable for how they are doing it,” Daniel Koretz, a Harvard Graduate School of Education testing expert, told the AJC.
The AJC’s findings also raise questions about whether anyone knows yet how to succeed in schools with high concentrations of poor students; most of the districts with troubling test score swings were rural and urban districts steeped in poverty.
Some immediate questions come to mind as you read the in-depth investigation by AJC staffers Alan Judd, Heather Vogell, John Perry, M.B. Pell and Dayton Daily News database specialist Ken McCall.
Are we expecting too much of teachers instructing the toughest students?
By basing school evaluations on student test scores, are we using too narrow a lens to see what is truly happening in our schools, perhaps overlooking positive developments that are not reflected in a single score?
Are we escalating the pressure on educators by linking their reviews and salaries to student scores, creating even greater motivation to doctor test results?
As the story states:
“These findings are concerning,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an emailed statement after being briefed on the AJC’s analysis. He added: “states, districts, schools and testing companies should have sensible safeguards in place to ensure tests accurately reflect student learning.”
In nine districts , scores careened so unpredictably that the odds of such dramatic shifts occurring without an intervention such as tampering were worse than 1 in a billion .
In Houston, for instance, test results for entire grades of students jumped two, three or more times the amount expected in one year, the analysis shows. When children moved to a new grade the next year, their scores plummeted — a finding that suggests the gains were not due to learning. {See response from Houston school chief here.}
Overall, 196 of the nation’s 3,125 largest school districts had enough suspect tests that the odds of the results occurring by chance alone were worse than 1 in 1,000. For 33 of those districts, the odds were worse than one in a million .
A few of the districts already face accusations of cheating. But in most, no one has challenged the scores in a broad, public way. The analysis shows that in 2010 alone, the grade-wide reading scores of 24,618 children nationwide — enough to populate a midsized school district — swung so improbably that the odds of it happening by chance were less than 1 in 10,000.
In Georgia, it fell to the governor’s investigators to prove cheating occurred. Led by two former top prosecutors, the Perdue investigation entailed 2,100 interviews and 800,000 documents and led to more than 80 confessions of cheating. State investigators accused a total of 38 principals with participating in test-tampering. Cheating was confirmed in 44 of 56 schools examined.
The findings toppled the much-heralded regime of Dr. Beverly Hall, and led to extensive upheaval in the leadership of the Atlanta schools.
The findings also sparked a national debate over whether schools teaching the least advantaged and most challenging students are being held to unattainable standards and whether test scores are a fair way to judge success.
The new AJC investigation is bound to reignite that debate.
Among the discoveries by the AJC team:
•Improbable scores were twice as likely to appear in charter schools as regular schools. Charters, which receive public money, can face intense pressure as supposed laboratories of innovation that, in theory, live or die by their academic performance.
•The newspaper found changes in test scores that were statistically improbable in nearly 20 cities, with swings in scores that were virtually impossible in about a half dozen. Human intervention is the most likely explanation In some cities, we found so many dramatic shifts in scores that the odds of that happening by chance are one in 10 billion.
•In some cities, the results for entire grades of students jumped two, three or more times the amount expected in one year. The next year, when children moved to a new grade, their scores plummeted.
•Though high-poverty city schools were more likely to have suspicious tests, improbable scores also showed up in an exclusive public school for the gifted on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. And they appeared in a rural district roughly 70 miles south of Chicago with one school, dirt roads and a women’s prison.
•The findings call into question the approach that dominated federal education policy over the past decade: Set a continuously rising bar and leave schools and districts essentially alone to figure out how to reach it.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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303 comments Add your comment
Dekalbite@ScienceTeacher 671
March 25th, 2012
6:03 pm
“For those of us in “the other Georgia,” letting parents send their children to the school of their choice, no matter which district, wouldn’t be much of a choice in any case..”
That’s why quite a few rural Republican legislators did not want to sign onto this bill.
Henry Marciano
March 25th, 2012
6:15 pm
Why can’t these standardized tests be used as a diagnostic and prescriptive tool
to remediate academic deficiencies ? We should emulate Finland’s educational model and do away with draconian measures designed to scapegoat and punish teachers. I would like to propose a national movement composed of parents, teachers and students to take back our schools. . The federal government has done much harm to public education by holding school districts hostage by requiring a reduction in suspension rates and an increase in promotion rates in order to receive federal funds. The result has been the creation of behavior codes that actually reward poor behavior and neglects to deal with serious infractions. Social promotion reigns in many of our public schools , especially in urban and rural districts.Teachers are ordered to pass failing students by principals and central administrators. How can teachers be held accountable for poor test scores when this is allowed to happen?
MiltonMan
March 25th, 2012
6:18 pm
Another article about education & what a crappy system we have in the country.
d
March 25th, 2012
6:28 pm
Someone mentioned that nothing is going to change – and I fear that that poster is correct. Unfortunately, he/she isn’t correct because of a lack of desire to fix education but rather the American voter not doing his or her job and making intelligent choices in the ballot box that are truly the right choice. We continue to reelect the same people over and over who make these decisions and expect that they will do something different. I don’t care what party the individual belongs to. I always order a mail-in absentee ballot and when I finish bubbling in my choices, I am often amazed how I have a good balance of both major parties (and a few 3rd parties mixed in) but I do my research and I make sure I am choosing based on my best interests and therefore the best interest of the students I teach – after all, my working conditions are their learning conditions (I have to give credit to a friend for that analysis).
Ed Johnson
March 25th, 2012
6:40 pm
@AJC is NOT Credible,
What a sad commentary about our country that public education must be defended, at all. But, alas, a lesson: Ralph and Erica Long and Alisha Thomas Morgan, along with Jan Jones, Ed Lindsey and that cohort, teach one to appreciate why revolutions start.
Eddie
March 25th, 2012
6:41 pm
A mind is a terrible thang…
Ron F.
March 25th, 2012
7:02 pm
“The teachers really don’t want to have prove themselves worthy of their paychecks (accountability).”
Reality: If you were a teacher, you’d know that’s as far from the truth as the North Pole is from the South Pole. I’ve been doing it for over twenty years, most of those spent teaching kids labeled as “at-risk”, “remedial”, etc. I have no problem with accountability- but I do have a problem with it being tied to a test score. I have administrators, county folks, and a school improvement specialist who have all, over and over again, given me excellent ratings based on what they see going on in my classroom. I have parents who have told me I was the only teacher who ever got their child interested in learning or had anything nice to say about their child. But, my kids typically don’t do well on standardized tests. The vocabulary is difficult for them, and they can’t talk or move during the test. These are kids who need to talk and move around to show you what they know, and they do in fact know a lot. One test is in no way indicative of their learning, and their scores will always make me look bad. But I keep teaching them anyway because they need someone to keep caring and keep believing in them even if the scores don’t show their abilities. Bring on accountability- I welcome it. But be fair, be realistic, and let me show you what my kids CAN do instead of giving them a test that repeated shows what they CAN’T do. The tests are flawed, they’re unreliable, the pass rates are a moving target, they seldom test what the curriculum stresses, they go against every known good teaching technique and fair assessment technique, and they will never be a valid means of testing what kids know, period.
There are those out there who will complain about accountability, and some of them probably are scared of it. The vast majority of us are ready for it, provided it’s done fairly, accurately, and doesn’t end up creating the cheating mess we’re in now. How would you suggest we provide accountability if, as you said in your earlier reply, that we shouldn’t rely so heavily on standardized tests? As long as those god-awful things are around, the pressure will be on from too many angles to get the scores up.
Prof
March 25th, 2012
7:24 pm
Read the article in today’s newspaper. Tears in my eyes.
Prof
March 25th, 2012
7:29 pm
@ Reality. You take me to task for quoting Wikipedia on the political nastinesses of using “Democrat” rather than “Democratic.” There aren’t many scholarly sources on the subject…perhaps more reliable for your purposes is the Aug. 7, 2006 article in the “New Yorker” by Hendrik Herzog, “The ‘Ic’ Factor.”
First to use the term was Harold Stassen in 1940, continued by the demagogue Senator Joe McCarthy… you’re in good company.
Dekalbite
March 25th, 2012
7:46 pm
DeKalb’s Interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson appointed Morcease Beasley to the position of Interim Deputy Superintendent of Teaching and Learning in charge of curriculum and instruction for DeKalb Schools. Dr. Beasley was formerly the Deputy Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction for Port Arthur Independent School District from 2006-2009. He was hired by DeKalb because of his success in raising test scores while in charge of instruction at Port Arthur.
The AJC report “Cheating Our Children – Suspicious test scores nationwide” shows Port Arthur as a “hot spot”:
http://www.ajc.com/news/cheating-our-children-1393866.html
The AJC report says:
“In any year, a typical (non-cheating) district might expect to have about 5% of its classes flagged for unusually high or low performance relative to their performances in the previous year. Districts which consistently have 10% or more of their classes flagged or which have an extremely high flag rate in a particular year certainly deserve further examination.”
http://www.ajc.com/news/cheating-our-children-find-1396820.html
“This database shows the number of classes in each district and the percentage of those classes that were flagged over a four-year period. A class is a group of students in the same school from one year to the next. For example, fourth grade students in 2009 and fifth grade students in 2010. A “flag” only indicates a test-score shift outside the norm. Smaller districts with fewer than 20 classes are not included.”
State TX
District name PORT ARTHUR ISD
Street address 733 5TH ST
City PORT ARTHUR
2008
Number of classes 32
Percentage of classes flagged 9.38%
2009
Number of classes 35
Percentage of classes flagged 20%
2010
Number of classes 38
Percentage of classes flagged 15.79%
2011
Number of classes 32
Percentage of classes flagged 9.38%
http://www.ajc.com/news/cheating-our-children-find-1396820.html?appSession=101934421188474&RecordID=2706&PageID=3&PrevPageID=2&cpipage=1&CPIsortType=&CPIorderBy=&cbCurrentRecordPosition=1
*Port Arthur in 2008-2009 had a higher percentage of flagged classes than Atlanta Public.
Dr. Beasley was chosen on the basis of test score improvement to be in charge of improving student achievement as measured by standardized test scores in DeKalb. While this in no way implicates Dr. Beasley with any wrongdoing, it begs the question – were the 2006 through 2009 test scores that were used to justify his appointment to the most critical decision making job for students in DeKalb valid?
While Dr. Beasley has been recently replaced by one of Dr. Atkinson appointees, he remains with the school system as the Executive Director of Race to the TOP. For the 2010 – 2011 school year he was paid around $170,000 in salary and benefits.
These questions about test score validity need to be answered as school systems are hiring personnel to critical decision making positions that directly affect every student’s education on the basis of the job candidate’s test score record.
Dekalbite
March 25th, 2012
7:54 pm
DeKalb’s Interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson appointed Morcease Beasley to the position of Deputy Superintendent of Teaching and Learning in charge of curriculum and instruction for DeKalb Schools. Dr. Beasley was formerly the Deputy Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction for Port Arthur Independent School District from 2006-2009. He was hired by DeKalb because of his success in raising test scores.
The AJC report “Cheating Our Children – Suspicious test scores nationwide” shows Port Arthur as a “hot spot”:
http://www.ajc.com/news/cheating-our-children-1393866.html
The AJC report says:
“In any year, a typical (non-cheating) district might expect to have about 5% of its classes flagged for unusually high or low performance relative to their performances in the previous year. Districts which consistently have 10% or more of their classes flagged or which have an extremely high flag rate in a particular year certainly deserve further examination.”
http://www.ajc.com/news/cheating-our-children-find-1396820.html
“This database shows the number of classes in each district and the percentage of those classes that were flagged over a four-year period. A class is a group of students in the same school from one year to the next. For example, fourth grade students in 2009 and fifth grade students in 2010. A “flag” only indicates a test-score shift outside the norm. Smaller districts with fewer than 20 classes are not included.”
State TX
District name PORT ARTHUR ISD
Street address 733 5TH ST
City PORT ARTHUR
2008
Number of classes 32
Percentage of classes flagged 9.38%
2009
Number of classes 35
Percentage of classes flagged 20%
2010
Number of classes 38
Percentage of classes flagged 15.79%
2011
Number of classes 32
Percentage of classes flagged 9.38%
http://www.ajc.com/news/cheating-our-children-find-1396820.html?appSession=101934421188474&RecordID=2706&PageID=3&PrevPageID=2&cpipage=1&CPIsortType=&CPIorderBy=&cbCurrentRecordPosition=1
*For the 2008-2009 school year a greater percentage of Port Arthur classes were flagged than Atlanta Public Schools experienced
Dr. Beasley was chosen on the basis of test score improvement to be in charge of improving student achievement as measured by standardized test scores in DeKalb. While this in no way implicates Dr. Beasley with any wrongdoing, it begs the question – were the 2006 through 2009 test scores that were used to justify his appointment to the most critical decision making job for students in DeKalb valid?
While Dr. Beasley has been recently replaced by one of Dr. Atkinson appointees, he still remains with the school system as the Executive Director of Race to the TOP. His salary and compensation for the 2010-2011 school year in DeKalb was around $170,000 in salary and benefits.
These questions about test score validity need to be answered as school systems are hiring personnel to critical decision making positions that directly affect every student’s education on the basis of the job candidate’s test score record.
ScienceTeacher671
March 25th, 2012
8:07 pm
Ron F. @ 7:02 p.m., many of my students are like your students. Actually, they do know the science, but they can’t read the test well, and their math skills are so low that they have great difficulty with the calculations in physical science, even with a calculator. A lot of them aren’t sure which number goes in first when you divide, because they’ve been failing that math CRCT since they were in 3rd grade, but they’ve been committee-promoted every year anyway.
catlady
March 25th, 2012
8:20 pm
What is so amazing is the NON leadership shown by USDOE when these things have cropped up in Texas, DC, Atlanta. Shouldn’t Arne and crew, with all their money and expertise, have performed this research? Sort of like the NON leadership shown by the Georgia DOE when confronted with Atlanta’s obviously doctored scores!
Nice Deflection
March 25th, 2012
8:22 pm
Okay, so other systems are cheating so its ok for APS to? FYI, Maureen, due to the lack of readership among the liberals u cater to, the AJC is moving more center/right. Enjoy ur employment while it lasts. The people of this state that can and do actually read dont buy ur “Land of the Lotus-Eaters” propoganda.
Dekalbite
March 25th, 2012
8:31 pm
Michael Hinojosa, superintendent of Cobb County Schools, was the former superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District through 2011.
“In the wide-ranging interview with the Journal, Hinojosa mentions that there is no reason why his school district should not be a top contender for the Broad Prize for Urban Education, an annual award given to urban districts who make big academic gains.
As you can recall, winning the Broad Prize was Hinojosa’s big goal while superintendent in Dallas ISD. He set a five-year timeline to do just that but the district never even made it to finalist status. We’ll see if he can capture the coveted prize in Cobb County.”
http://dallasisdblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/12/will-former-superintendent-hin.html
What are the odds that Dallas ISD test scores were valid?
From the AJC:
“DALLAS
Enrollment: 157,575
Eligible for free or reduced-price meals: 76 percent
AJC analysis: In 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2011, 242 classes exhibited suspicious scores; 130 would be expected. Odds: 1 in 100 billion.
History: In 2011, an investigation found that students at one elementary school were being taught only reading and math – the only subjects taught on the state tests. The students’ social studies and science grades were fabricated.”
http://www.ajc.com/news/cheating-our-children-list-1397020.html
In addition to casting doubt on the integrity of testing nationwide, this study casts doubt on the way school districts, particularly large urban school districts select their superintendents and upper level management. Selecting superintendents and the upper level management who direct student learning on the basis of bogus results is disastrous for students.
The same managers of these educational systems keep getting recycled as they go from school system to school system commanding high salaries and immense power over the educational process primarily on the basis of these test scores that have a 1 in a 100 billion chance of being without suspicion.
Dekalbite
March 25th, 2012
8:37 pm
Is moderation on? My last two posts have been caught in the filter.
Celina
March 25th, 2012
8:38 pm
The students are not being cheated out of an education by their teachers! Teachers are expected to teach or should I say,throw curriculum at these children that they are not cognitively prepared to grasp. When a concept has been introduced, children are not allowed to stay with it long enough before they move on. The schools in Georgia have been experiencing this with math. Now with the new exploded Lexile scores expected to guide the reading curriculum next year, expect big declines there next!!! If I could do it all over again, I would not be a public school teacher, nor would I ever send a child of mine to a public school!
Ed Johnson
March 25th, 2012
8:39 pm
About a quarter ways into her recently published book, “Multiplication is for White People:” Raising Expectations for other People’s Children — don’t be put off by the title — Lisa Delpit pretty much nails the matter:
“My point is that children come to us having learned different things in their four-to-five years at home. For those who come to us knowing how to count to one hundred and to read, we need to teach them problem solving and how to tie their shoes. And for those who already know how to clean up spilled paint, tie their shoes, prepare meals, and comfort a crying sibling, we need to make sure that we teach them the school knowledge that they have learned at home. Unfortunately, though, different types of [knowledge] are not equally valued in the school setting.”
Said differently, the need is for public education to become ever more capable to absorb and continually learn from all the variety kids show up with at school each day.
Where Delpit uses the word “skill”, I prefer the word “knowledge” for the simple reason “skill” arguably is a pejorative in corporate-speak used to communicate and enforce ones place in the corporate hierarchy: executives have knowledge, worker bees have skill. As knowledgeable students and teachers can be upsetting to educratism, knowledgeable worker bees can be upsetting to corporatism.
Don't feed the trolls
March 25th, 2012
8:48 pm
@Nice Deflection, Maureen, I’m not sure how the AJC pays you but I bet it’s not nearly enough to put up with the crap you get from idiots like Deflection. There is no way that anyone reading your blog today could think that you or the AJC were excusing APS. I would ban these trolls..
Celina
March 25th, 2012
8:49 pm
I should also add that perhaps the reason so many teachers cheated wasn’t to protect themselves but protect their students from a task that they could not achieve. A task unachievable for their learning level perhaps or due to to the demand for express teaching at all cost.
Shame on Americans thinking that a child with an 85 IQ should learn at the same rate as a child with a 125. Not everyone can be a rocket scientist no matter how cool they think it would be. So sad for students and teachers. It doesn’t mean the kids are lazy and it doesn’t mean the teachers are bad teachers!
Ron F.
March 25th, 2012
9:17 pm
Ed: Delpit offends a lot of people, but within her often curt rhetoric are some good nuggets of wisdom that I fear we’re never going to be able to apply in the Age of Testing. All we do is tell kids who are already bewildered by much of what we expect them to know when they get to school that they are below the “norm” on every test. We reinforce the mistrust that many from poverty already have of the system, and then further alienate the kids year after year by shoving more curriculum at them in an attempt to add rigor. I wonder if we’ll ever figure it out.
Ed Johnson
March 25th, 2012
9:42 pm
Oops! To correct my 8:39 pm: “…we need to make sure that we teach them the school knowledge that they [haven’t] learned at home.”
Old Timer
March 25th, 2012
9:44 pm
Oh, c’mon! Anybody with a lick of sense could have predicted the disaster that would follow the imposition of NCLB. It was a knee-jerk reaction to a perceived problem. Just as those concerned with crime never stopped till they got the death penalty fully activated, those concerned with a lack of educational attainment decided the draconian solution was to punish the teachers and schools. Why, it simply couldn’t be one-size-fits-all Walmart schools—the larger, the better—oh, and pour the learnin’ in, teach, but make sure little Johnny qualifies for Hope. And it couldn’t possibly be class size. And it couldn’t be college education departments that turn out bottom-of-the-barrel attainers who know how to fill out forms in triplicate but couldn’t pass a test in their own subject areas.
No, it had to be those danged teachers and administrators. And lo! When those teachers and administrators turn the punishment against the punishers by fudging test scores, what outrage! How dare they!
I would laugh if the consequences of this charade were not so tragic.
John
March 25th, 2012
10:06 pm
A thorough examination of how are schools are performing is always welcome. States have been amassing data for decades on its students and many still do not know what to do with it. NCLB put a target on the backs of the schools and the students. The scent of money bought a bunch of folks in to “solve the problems” but they son left when they realized that there were no profits in education.
Most people on know the sensationalize part of education, poor scores, cheating, money. But few know about the challenges of educating the poor, the english learners, and the disabled. They are not the prime targets of charter schools. The public schools have to take in all who come to their doors. Can you imagine trying to educate kids who attend 2-3 different schools in a year? That is what happens in poor families as they move from one complex to another. Think that may impact scores from one year to another? Before we but into branding districts as cheaters and announcing the failure of schools a deeper look may be warranted. BTW, if you do not have kids in school it is still wise to keep your eyes on politicians who have their eyes on shifting school funds to projects with no track record of doing any better when it come to educating our kids.
Just sayin'
March 25th, 2012
10:25 pm
In the end, if kids are to get the most out of education, parents must value education and encourage and reinforce good study habits and good behavior overall. They must also be involved in their school, coming to conferences and letting their children know what’s expected of them.
Reality
March 25th, 2012
10:26 pm
Long story short. NOTHING is going to change as long as the Federal Government controls the education system. It is doing exactly what it was designed to do. Educate the populace to a point where they are loyal subjects and good employees. Nothing more, nothing less would be prefered. It’s both parties that continue to keep the system in the shambles that it’s in.
Just remember, the children of the Political Elite in Washington do not go to government schools. They all attend private schools, where the real education takes place. Government schools are great for your kids, but not not good enough for their own.
Reality
March 25th, 2012
10:30 pm
@ScienceTeacher671 I am proud to say I am not a resident of the Metro area. The county I live in has strived to get all of it’s schools converted to charter schools. The county allows the parents to decide which school you want to send your child to, and does provide transportation to those schools within a given radious, outside of that, you have to provide the transportation. Unfortunately the law does not allow the county to send the taxes you pay to the school of your choice.
Anonmom
March 25th, 2012
10:47 pm
Back to another of my favorite subjects… teens: America is one of the only places that treats teens as ‘children’ and only in certain contexts and only for the past 100 or so years. Historically, teens have been treated as adults and around the world, teens are adults. Teens have adult hormones. We have (in DCSS) “no zero” policies and “social promotion” and discipline rules that handicap the teachers and don’t allow them to adequate control ever expanding classrooms. Because of the no zeros and social promotion, the kids have little incentive (if not from homes where education is really valued) to do their work and come prepared to class. Therefore, they aren’t gaining too much from being there. They aren’t learning that certain behaviors have consequences… Then they hit the 14-16 zone and they sometimes fall into the wrong crowd and make stupid choices and the law kicks in and they are oftentimes treated as adults — but no one has ever held them accountable for their behavior and they never learned that “no” means “no” or it’s due when its due or the law is what it is and the parents of these kids don’t seem to understand that the classroom of the 5-8 year old is setting up a microcosm of the “real world” that can be much more menacing when the child is a teen or older. (See the hazing story from Florida A&M or any number of alleged rape stories). There are many reasons why the classrooms of 2012 are much less functional and productive than the classrooms of 1930 were.
ScienceTeacher671
March 25th, 2012
10:58 pm
Reality, I’m not sure I’d worry about where my tax dollars go. I’ve been paying property taxes for longer than some of my parents have been alive, and I’m pretty sure that I still haven’t paid enough to pay for my children’s tuition for 12 years of public school each.
You, of course, could have higher taxes, fewer children, and/or a larger house (or maybe even several houses), but I think the majority of us get more than we pay for.
Sandy Springs Parent
March 26th, 2012
12:46 am
The biggest problems are the lack of dual or even triple tracking systems with vocational education systems. The school districts in the metro and suburban Atlanta area, as well as most of the area’s shown are too big. There is a huge correlation between the free lunch population and the cheating. If you look at the area’s their are also alot of people fudging about being eligible for free lunch to be on it. The reverse in area’s that you don’t have people on the free lunch you don’t have the low scores or cheating. I know from growing up in a semi-rural area of New York State and driving First to DC and then to the Midwest for Grad. School that the areas not showing up are still full of poverty but pride. Also, why don’t the hills of West Virginia show up on these
Benny
March 26th, 2012
4:17 am
Are only high % free/reduced lunch school systems targeted? It appears from the list of systems that inner city systems were the focus of this investigation. I do not have any answers and know that the current educational system has serious flaws. I retired from teaching so I have experienced the system a work. I have taught teenagers that could read at a high level in the 5th grade but could not write their name in the 8th grade. I have heard the threats from administrators, wtinessed the student’s fear of the test, heard the comments from the public and seen the “slight of hand statistics”. I now have only one question left. Is the current educational system for the child or for the politician? Maybe if we made education fun for the student we might make some progress. I once read that the definition of insanity is doing the same behaviors over and over and expecting a different result. If you have spent any time in a school you might agree that our educational system is insane.
ScienceTeacher671
March 26th, 2012
5:46 am
I’m still wondering if anyone has compared these lists to the lists of “90-90-90″ schools? Is that research still valid or is it being called into question?
Jim Tavegia
March 26th, 2012
6:30 am
Teachers are not the problem, but they take all the blame and the parents and the students none of it. There is an epdemic of lazy that is permeatiing Public Education that has students caring more about the cell phones and texting their friends during class it is pathetic.Many can’t be bothered to come to school prepared with paper and pencils, they have the latest cell phone, though. Student underperforming, the parent comes in to have war with the teacher about what the teacher should be doing for their child. If there were cameras in the class room and parents could see how little they children do in school it might shock them. On the other hand, they would probably think it is still the teacher’s fault for not making not “making” their perfect child do work. If these students were on a job site they would be fired. Only Public Ed is required by law to keep the deadwood. The real world sends lazy people home so they can get on welfare. Until lazy students do some work nothing will change.
seabeau
March 26th, 2012
6:33 am
It’s telling that most of these suspect schools are in Democrate controlled cities. These tweaked scores have vast political implications to the Democratic Party which also objects to the Voter ID Laws in the various states.The Democrats of course stating that voter cheating does not occur. Well!!
To Jim Tavegia
March 26th, 2012
6:54 am
Your comment is outrageous “Teachers are not the problem, but they take all the blame and the parents and the students none of it.”
TEACHERS changed the test scores, NOT parents and NOT the students.
Teachers lied, cheated and stole NOT the parents and NOT the students.
EVERY human being must take responsibility for their actions.
No one put a gun to the teacher’s head and force them to cheat. Teachers cheated because they wanted their bonus money or they wanted to keep their salary.
Morals and ethics in the classroom are sold out for very low prices these days.
Makes me sick.
GM
To ScienceTeacher671 RE taxes
March 26th, 2012
7:14 am
You wrote to another blogger “You, of course, could have higher taxes, fewer children, and/or a larger house (or maybe even several houses), but I think the majority of us get more than we pay for.”
It’s weird to me that you and others think the only contribution we taxpayers make to education is through property taxes.
Property taxes make up less than half the cost of a kid’s education. The other half being paid for by our federal and state taxes. the state kicks in a lot of money for public education and the state money is our money. State taxes. The federal government contributes money to public education and that money comes from our federal taxes.
The premise that we are all getting more than what we paid for is ridiculous. Property taxes are just SOME of what we all pay for public education. The REST comes from our state and federal taxes and the sweat, muscle and other resources we parents put in through our continual volunteering in the classroom, on field trips, cleaning the playgrounds, year-long fundraising and other constant support of our public schools.
GM
to Sandy Springs Parent regarding free lunches
March 26th, 2012
7:19 am
Sandy springs parent, you wrote “There is a huge correlation between the free lunch population and the cheating. ”
No, there isn’t.
Teachers do not get free lunches. No teachers get free lunches. The teachers did the cheating, not the students.
It doesn’t matter whether the kids eat for free or not — they didn’t cheat. The teachers cheated.
The cheating has nothing to do with poverty. It has everything to do with integrity and honesty and morals.
You’ve made your point yourself. In taht area you mentioned there was poverty yet no cheating. It’s because the teachers in that area have honesty, integrity and a morally ethical code of conduct they live by.
GM
Mountain Man
March 26th, 2012
7:20 am
Two other issues have created the big difference between today’s schools and those of the 50’s and 60’s:
1) Mainstreaming of SPED students. Special Education students now siphon off an increasing amount of the school’s resources. While it may cost $3000/year to educate Johnny Normal, a SPED student may cost $20,000/year. Also, housing SPED students in regular classrooms means the requirement for a special teacher’s aide just to teach the SPED student, since the calculus being taught is way above their head.
2) The elimination of tracking. Not everyone who goes to high school wants to go to college and not everyone needs to know calculus. Everyone DOES need to know basic arithmetic, correct English (both reading and writing), basic science (to know enough chemistry not to mix Clorox and Windex), and basic History and political science (these WILL be voters, you know). Those basics should get you a high school diploma (no calculus needed). If you want to go to college, you can verify to them that you took and passed calculus. Put the high achievers together so they can excell – that is what other countries do. Give the kids who aren’t interested in schoolwork an option to learn real-world skills (shop?). Put the troublemakers into their own alternate setting so they can drop out at sixteen and get sent to prison.
Doni
March 26th, 2012
7:24 am
Mom wrote: “My student is in MS and his core teachers teach exactly 4 classes a day. That is four hours more or less. The rest of the day is to plan and grade theoretically. They arrive at 8:30 – out by 4. 9 months with generous vacation all throughout. Week for Thanksgiving, two weeks for Christmas. Come on – let’s try a little harder!”
Wow. The above post is just a sampling of one of the major problems teachers face today – lack of respect for what we do, which is transferred from parent to child. I am a middle school teacher. I teach four classes a day. We have to report at 8, but most everyone is there by 7:30. I have students from 8:00-2:00. The rest of the day is my planning period which is filled up with SSTs, IEPs, conferences, various meetings and training and collaborative planning. Grading papers and entering grades requires me to either work well past 4 o’clock when I am allowed to leave or taking them home with me. In addition to these hours that I am paid for, I tutor kids before and after school, sponsor a club, stay late for more meetings, conferences, and professional learning. Yes, I only teach 36 weeks a year plus a week for preplanning and a few days post planning, but I only get paid for the days I work. It is a common misconception that teachers get paid for these breaks. We get paid for the days we work – which is then divided over 12 months. Much of the time during these breaks I am working. On average I work about 55 hours a week at school which does not count the hours put in at home grading papers and doing more planning. As I type this, I am printing lessons I worked on all weekend. So, mom, don’t judge until you know the facts.
MD
March 26th, 2012
8:03 am
All these cities are democrat controlled cities, and school districts. Nice work!
To GNGS re publishing test scores
March 26th, 2012
8:13 am
Your comment is just plain weird. You wrote “A simple and cost-effective way to reduce cheating is to make test results of every student public.”
Your solution is to shame the student.
The students did not cheat. The TEACHERS cheated.
If you want to bring shame on a wrong-doer, a liar, a cheat, you have to shame the one doing the cheating.
GM
Mary Elizabeth
March 26th, 2012
8:23 am
Dekalbite@ Mary Elizabeth, 5:00 pm, 3/25/12
Again, many of our points-of-view overlap; some do not. Let’s see what I can manage here. Hopefully, this will be the final in a series of communications between us on these particular subjects because the dialogue logistics are becoming very difficult to present, visually.Below I will restate your total post to me at 5:00 pm yesterday, and I will respond to it throughout your restated post. For readers trying to following our responses to one another, here is the order of the responses, visually presented:
(1) My yesterday’s remarks to “DeKalbite@MaryElizabeth “are presented, first, in quotation marks.
(2) DeKalbite’s subsequent response to my entries which, are in quotation marks, are presented without quotation marks or brackets – simply as straightforward, running sentences.
(3) Finally, my responses, this morning, to DeKalbite’s straightforward, running sentences are presented in brackets underneath those of DeKalbite’s remarks.
————————————————————
“I do not believe that the military is the answer for our future security on this planet.”
It would be nice if the world worked that way, but when you have too many people chasing too few resources, there will be conflict. In the past and currently our species has shown no sign of everyone coming together to equitably share resources.
[Just because the past did not respond in a certain way, does not mean that the future will not evolve to a higher order of interacting. Please read my link from my own post which explains this evolution more fully. At the end I quote President Obama: "Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail. So whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners of it. Our problems must be dealt with through partnership; progress must be shared.” http://maryelizabethsings.wordpress.com/2011/02/05/a-wind-is-rising/ ]
”I simply believe that business (world) should do what it knows best, and that is to continue with business affairs, securing profits for its investors, and bringing economic viability to our nation.”
Well, that’s really the point. Business cannot bring economic viability to our nation without a top notch educational system. Granted there are other elements to the mix that business needs to be successful, but a good educational system is one of the most vital components.
[I agree completely with your remarks. I have always advocated for a "top notch educational system."
I do not understand why you would assume, otherwise. I was an Instructional Lead Teacher in a "top notch" model public school which practiced continuous progress for every student and mastery learning. The fact that I advocate for public schools does not mean that I support low functioning schools. Public schools should be improved; they should not be dismantled. The other offerings of "school choice" could bring stability to the entire educational process for all of the children in Georgia, if they would function, in part, as satellites of the main, nucleus public school in their area.That way they could work in harmony with traditional public school, instead of opposing them, and they could coordinate their innovative efforts with them for the benefit of all students in Georgia. Then, there would be cohesion and continuity throughout Georgia's public school offerings. Moreover, I do not think it wise to allow corporations to control education in our nation. Public schools must be sustained in our nation by means of public taxes, which would insure that public schools would remain free of any political ideological agenda, and free of those opportunists who wish to use children for profit - for themselves.]
“Education is not only about training to secure good jobs, it is also about developing higher consciousness so that people are able to reach a greater enlightenment than they had previously attained. ”
Good jobs in the U.S. are tied to living in a safe neighborhood, having access to health care, and so many other benefits that allow you to develop that “higher consciousness”. I would suggest you read (if you haven’t already) “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America” by Barbara Ehrenreich.
[Again, you are debating with me on points in which I agree with you. I do not know why you would assume that I do not realize that good jobs, healthcare, and other survival factors are not first needed to insure that one can reach higher consciousness. On the other hand, Nelson Mandela did not need much from the material world in order to continue to develop higher consciousness when he was incarcerated for 27 years in an extremely small cell which offered him little outside vision or inside movement. Nevertheless, your points are some of the reasons that I advocate for FDR's 2nd Bill of Rights for all Americans. ]
“The top students must continue to reach their potential, and the slower ones must be nurtured to reach their potential, also, without demanding that they achieve more than is realistically possible for them to achieve, in point of time.”
And the best way to achieve that for low income students is with competent teachers in small classes. That has not been the focus of the managers in education. We must create a model that holds the managers responsible. Beverly Hall vacations in Hawaii while everyone else is held responsible.
[Again, I agree with you 100%. We must have smaller classes in order to insure the maximum growth of every student. Moreover, we must fund public education, adequately, to insure that smaller classes can exist. Public education has been cut by billions of dollars in Georgia in the last decade.]
John Friedricks
March 26th, 2012
8:25 am
First, I hope that Digger is not a teacher. To that point, I noticed in Georgia that Screven County was not included in the report. Their sixth grade CRCT scores in Social Studies jumped 40 points last year. Red flag? No, they were smart enough to recognize that the curriculum materials made in Georgia were precisely aligned with the GPS. A teacher in Screven was excited to see their scores improve so much but was worried that the state was going to red flag them. Perhaps they should investigate Screven and determine what is going on down there…
teacher
March 26th, 2012
8:48 am
Here is the thing: somewhere in the last 15 or so years, people decided that it was the school’s sole responsibility to educate and no responsibilty of the student or parent
Kids come to school less and less prepared than ever before. There is no emphasis on academics or studying at the home. The teacher becomes the main person who is supposed to make miracles happen; when that doesn’t, then he/she becomes the target of the news media who blame him/her for failing their child.
This cheating scandal only emphasizes what is wrong with the government educating your child.
Senior Citizen Kane
March 26th, 2012
8:52 am
If I read correctly, the AJC examined 69,000 schools and found evidence of cheating in 200. Statistically, that’s zero. Shouldn’t the headline be how few schools are cheating?
Anonmom
March 26th, 2012
9:12 am
Please consider that the kids who aren’t coming out of school with “life” skills for “success” with something they’ll be good at and some “moral compass” (and no, I’m not necessarily implying a religious one — just right vs. wrong of the golden rule variety) and knowing that “no” means “no” and “stop” really does mean “stop” and a deadline is a deadline are most likely going to have trouble as adults. This means that some day they will be adults and that they will probably not be able to support themselves — they will be on welfare, in jail, or, if they’re lucky, find some job where they’ll be able to “help” you while you try to get a license for something or get pulled over or maybe they make it into the military. My passion about this issue and, most of all, the fraud and corruption resulting in the funds not making it to the teachers so they can actually have small class sizes and reasonable expectations so that, perhaps cheating to not be fired wouldn’t occur to them (or to their administrators) is for our future — what does society look like in 20 years? We need to go back to reality and recognize that each child is born with different, uniquely special skills and our schools need to allow them to follow their own passions in order to make a living “Doing What They Love” — the schools need to lay this foundation — that means if a child is still reading at or below a 3rd grade level in 7th grade, a shop track may actually make sense all the way around and this becomes more compelling by 9th grade. No, not everyone needs calculus but everyone needs “money” skills, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction and interest rate skills. Everyone should be able to speak English and be able to pass our citizenship test as part of history (even those born here). Those who are college and grad school bound should have those options. Nothing should be set in stone. This is where, perhaps, vouchers, may start to make sense — the private schools actually specialize — you don’t send a below-average IQ child to Westminster and one with reading issues may wind up at the speech school. There are other places that “specialize” for other “skill sets” — like Europe, this may very well maximize the billions of taxpayer money we are currently spending on education and output a product that actually works.
Anonmom
March 26th, 2012
9:18 am
SRC: the 200 school statistic is probably a higher “skew” than you make it out to be because the schools reviewed are highly concentrated urban districts and most of the country contains small districts with small schools. I think if you delve into it — there is most likely a correlation between large class sizes and higher rates of cheating. It’s easier that way and there’s also much less focus on what any particular child is doing, academically, in any given year and much more emphasis being put on just “taming the circus” that the classrooms have become with the “new” (since the 1960s/1970s) discipline “rules” — so an interesting ’study’ would be on that issue vis a vis class size in the urban environments. E.G. DCSS is one of the top 20 largest systems and has enormous ratios (although it is only 4th biggest in Georgia).
To teacher....baloney
March 26th, 2012
9:49 am
I call full on Oscar Meyer baloney on teacher’s comment which reads “There is no emphasis on academics or studying at the home.”
That’s just incorrect.
My kids get homework every night. A little piece of paper comes home with it that reuires me to sign every section of homework. Each teacher does it a wee bit differently but ALL the teachers my children have had send home that paper, which requires my signature on every part AND when it doesn’t get signed…a note goes home with that too.
Behavior reporting is the same way.
My kids’ school requires me to have my children in on time with zero flexibility with tardies. The school secretary stands at the door and if anyone is trying to walk in after the bell rings, they get a tardy.
It’s that strict.
So, I don’t know where you teach or where your kids go to school but the notion that all parents are slackers and not responsible is just that, a notion, an incorrect one.
Many (not all) teacher-bloggers on the Get Schooled blog will say and do anyting to escape responsibility for what they are paid to do, teach.
GM
To Senior Citizen Cane
March 26th, 2012
9:55 am
Dear Senior Citizen, I have a couple of serious questions for you:
Have you ever worked a real job in your life?
Have you ever been a victim of a crime?
So, let’s say your child is kidnapped. You report the kidnapping to police. The police officer says “Well, we have 69,000 kids and only 200 reported kidnappings, so statistically, we have zero kidnappings and we aren’t going to look for your child.”
HOW would you feel?
How would you feel if you worked hard at your job but you didn’t get paid. you go to the HR office to complain and they say “Well, we are a big company. We have 69,000 employees but only 200 complaints of not getting paid, so statistically, that’s zero. So we’re not going to look into the probem.”
Again, how would you feel?
GM
Poor Research
March 26th, 2012
10:28 am
Interesting that the findings report on 2011 when, at least in the State of Georgia, these numbers have yet to be released by any state agency. I’d be interested in knowing where the AJC got their numbers on Georgia, if the numbers aren’t available? Poor research makes some good school districts look bad.