Man Stops Traffic at 17th and K to Demand $200 Million
Morning Roundup: Goodbye, Abe Edition
Judge Throws Out WTU Suit Over Teacher Layoffs
Vegetate to Close at the End of the Month
Morning Roundup: Rain Won't Go Away Edition
Remember the early allegations of cheating on the DC-CAS (the standardized test that determines school progress under NCLB)? Bill Turque has done some digging, and reports in the Post that two teachers and one administrator at Howard Road Academy Public Charter School in Southeast have been fired after realizations that the two teachers were given advance copies of the exam so students could have "extra practice." The scores of 27 4th and 6th grade students at the school have been invalidated, and the campus will lose $10,000 of Title 1 funding in order to cover the costs of the tests. How did the teachers get caught? An exam proctor was suspicious when a student finished the exam's math section extremely quickly and said, "We did this yesterday. I know all of the answers."
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebookTips
Contribute
Latest Tip:
Check out local Singer/Songwriter Todd Wright's new project 40x40. He's writing recording and relea
[more]
Please, try to understand. I don't have the background for this. I mean, the high school I went to, they asked a kid to prove the law of gravity, he threw the teacher out the window!
I recall being given essentially the exact answers for standardized tests when I was in school. There were so many and it cut into so much actual curriculum time, that the teachers just wanted to get done with the easiest way possible.
But then again, these are charter schools, so maybe the standard is different.
I remember taking practice tests but we were never drilled on them or given answers. Then again school funding, teacher salaries and job security was not as integrally tied to the test scores as they all are under NCLB.
I wonder how often this kind of cheating occurs. I would guess, quite often, given the incentives that the school, teachers, and students have in higher scores, and the fact that almost no one has any incentive to say anything about it.
It's part of the growing pains with standardized tests. NYC went through the same thing. Standardized tests are introduced. Teachers and principles scream "it hurts the education process". Then they panic that they will not get tenure or the school will be ranked low--so they cheat. Then after a few years everyone agrees standardized testing works and they all get in line.
but does it "work" if there's widespread cheating?
I hope someone at least tried the defense "Kids says the darndest things!"