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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > August > 30 > Entry
Cheating on state tests
Education Week reports Texas is launching a major investigation into cheating on its state tests. (Sorry. EdWeek subscription required to read the story).
This just got me thinking. Texas is a big state with a high profile testing program. Ohio is a big state with a high profile testing program. Texas is very worried about cheating and is taking serious action. I wonder how worried Ohio’s state education officials are about cheating and what steps have been taken here to ensure testing is above board?
I’ll be talking to state education officials later this week about the testing program. I’ll ask and let you know what they say.
Here’s an excerpt from EdWeek’s story:
“The Texas Education Agency is launching an investigation next month to determine how widespread test cheating is throughout the state. In a letter to school administrators earlier this summer, state Commissioner of Education Shirley Neeley said the agency would also create an independent task force to lead the investigation, use on-site monitors to oversee future administrations of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, and impose sanctions against schools or districts where cheating is exposed. The five-member task force, which has been created, includes business and education leaders. The agency is also putting some muscle behind the investigation and has assigned 15 people to work on the project—tripling the size of the staff that had been in charge of looking into allegations of testing improprieties.”
What do you know about cheating on state test in Ohio? Ever seen evidence of it?
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Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Testing
Comments
By Al
August 31, 2006 9:01 AM | Link to this
I am sure that you can find cheating. After all, it has become the American Way! (See: Barry Bonds, the Little League player who was too old a few years back, President’s program of illegal surveillance,not being honest on tax returns, all examples of cheating of one sort or another.) Put pressure on anyone to make a silk purse out of anything other than silk and someone will be cheating. I can tell you from experience that those of us who monitor and administer these tests are scared to death of what might happen if: 1) we do something wrong and don’t report it; 2) someone else does something wrong and we are unaware of it; or 3) a child accuses someone of something illegal. This is all because, on the elementary level, the school has everything to lose. The penalties are severe for individuals (loss of license) as well as schools and districts.By Oldprof
August 30, 2006 11:31 AM | Link to this
Sure. Schools are reporting test scores of gifted children in schools they don’t attend. http://www.zerointelligence.net/archives/cat_ohio.php There was this note about 11 teachers being investigated http://www.edexcellence.net/institute/gadfly/issue.cfm?id=10&edition=Ohio Then there was that case, was it a couple of years ago, where a student was sexually assaulted during state tests in a charter school when the class was left unsupervised—in clear violation of testing requirements. Shouldn’t be too hard to find more examples.By Michelle
August 30, 2006 10:53 AM | Link to this
I’m pretty sure you won’t find out anything without the help of the media. What the article doesn’t tell you is that TEA only released the results of a study to identify potential cheating after several newspapers took the agency to court. Then it became a comedy of errors for TEA. First it said that it wouldn’t investigate. Then it said it might investigate the suspected schools that were also supposed to receive payments for school improvement. Now it says it will probably look at all the schools but it still hasn’t requested the complete information from the company that did the study. What I don’t understand is why none of this came up in the EdWeek story. It makes it sound like the state that originated NCLB has the system done pat. Of course, if you don’t ever look for cheaters, you’re never going to find them. I bet that TEA doesn’t make that mistake twice.By Mary
August 30, 2006 7:45 AM | Link to this
Unfortunately, I would not be surprised about cheating here, as well. As the saying goes, integrity is what people do when no one else is watching. It is just part of the cultural decline where marketing and glitz is more common than substance, and everyone has to be be labeled a winner or loser in school. We heavily reward people throughout our culture for deception, appearance, and superficiality as opposed to substance. Nothing is real anymore. Even school board meetings are run as pep rallies, just as mall openings, etc.