Corruption+in+schools

One thing that is worth noting about the stories below is that they deal with evidence of corruption in U.S. schools. Since there are as yet no stories from other countries, the interpretation of that might be that such corruption is just more common in the U.S. than elsewhere. An alternative - one that I think is more likely to be true - is that American society is simply more open than is the case elsewhere, and thus more likely to uncover and publicize such scandals. Keep that in mind when you read the stories linked here.

Cheating on state-wide tests was rampant in the Atlanta Public Schools.

USA Todayreports evidence of similar cheating on state-wide tests in six other states and Washington D.C.

A similar story in the LA Times about cheating by teachers in California schools. Here's a snippet from that story:

"The teachers came from 23 schools and 21 districts — an unprecedented number that has raised alarms about the pressure California educators are under to improve test scores. In the worst alleged cases, teachers are accused of changing incorrect responses or filling in missing ones after students returned answer booklets."

Is pressure to improve test scores an excuse for cheating? Pretty clearly, it's not, and the number of teachers mentioned in this story is pretty small - about one-tenth of one percent of California teachers. We should not tar all teachers in the state with the cheater brush - but we should be careful not to use this story as an emotional tool to attack testing, either. That some teachers cheat is a fact about those teachers, not about the tests.