In Pennsylvania, Suspicious Erasing On State Exams At 89 Schools

The New York Times:

PHILADELPHIA -- In April, Dale Mezzacappa attended a panel discussion on cheating sponsored by the Education Writers Association. At the time, she was one of three staff reporters for The Notebook, a community newspaper and Web site that covers the Philadelphia public schools.

While few know of The Notebook, many know of Ms. Mezzacappa. For 27 years, until the newspaper industry's near collapse, she was a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer. She is also a former president of the Education Writers Association.

Read the whole story: The New York Times

Comments

[dbrett480]

03:06 PM on 08/21/2011

The teachers should be fired. This is like cops who steal, it goes against the very nature of the profession.

[jockmama]

11:11 PM on 08/01/2011

In all too many towns it's virtually impossible for decent teachers to actually TEACH the youngsters in their classes. Discipline is not allowed: towns have actually punished teachers for grading tests in red ink, few gods' sake. Excessively large classes (since the towns won't pony up for additional schools and teachers) force instruction to move at the pace of a herniated snail, because the class must move only at the speed of the slowest student (who often has no intention whatsoever of learning ANYTHING. Teachers WILL teach - if the parents allow it. I attended a high school whose third floor was actually CONDEMNED, whose textbooks were so old that our parents' names were in them, whose desks had things like "Vote for Cleveland" carved in them. The town had no money. But what it DID have was parents who CARED about their children's education. Because the teachers were allowed to discipline slackers and troublemakers without worrying about lawsuits and constant complaints to the principal, and parents made sure the students read and re-read their texts and notes, and always did their homework, my class of 135 sent 131 to four-year colleges (2 girls got married, and 2 boys enlisted in the military). I could see too frickin' many towns around us that would've ridden OUR teachers out of town on a rail, for damaging little Timmy and Connie's delicate self-esteem. Good teachers are rare enough, to lose them because they aren't being allowed to TEACH.

[EMMA70]

07:00 PM on 08/01/2011

OECD ranks the United States 14th out of 34 countries for reading skills, 17th for science and a below-average 25th for mathematics.
Not anymore!
Make it 34th.

[Mas]

07:00 PM on 08/01/2011

When NCLB was implemented, there was loud voices of concerns on where it would lead to. Unfortunately those teacher concerns were viewed by many in the public and private sectors as "teachers are just trying to keep their jobs" --- "its just the teacher's union protecting their jobs." Asking that the program have a stopping mechanism to see if the program beared any fruit again was viewed as simple job protection more than the interest of the children.

[susandiane]

08:10 AM on 08/02/2011

Teach to the test and get rid of recess. That was the thinking. By only teaching rote memorization, they managed to creat a nice little band of parrots. Seems the early generation of the TeaPartiers succeeded!

[Mas]

02:15 PM on 08/02/2011

You could be right (an early generation of TeaPartiers).

[MichaelTurton]

06:42 PM on 08/01/2011

Well America, you wanted Asian education, you got it.

[Hlynn]

04:18 PM on 08/01/2011

Maybe this will end when more schools move to testing by computer. We have another year to be able to use test booklets, but the following year all state tests will be done on computers statewide, and the answers and results will be sent and received electronically.

[ljconner]

06:56 PM on 08/01/2011

I just retired from teaching at a large city school system...our elementary school had 3 computers in each room and 25 in the lab....test takes 4 days and has several hundred questions.....an average of 25 students in each room....so there's no way this can be done on a computer...some of the test has to be read for directions..many of our computers are old and out dated...crash easily....not enuf memory, etc......
most of our schools have several hundred students....it will be a total disaster...not being negative...just realistic.

[Hlynn]

09:30 PM on 08/01/2011

You're right. More schools need more computers for everyone to test that way.

I was writing about our state, specifically, because we have no choice. We must test on computers statewide by the 2013-2014 school year according to legislators, and schools have been scrambling to get enough equipment.

In our school we have to test grades 3 -5 (and there have been some years we've had grade 6, depending on the local student population), so with all the grades, all the subject(math and reading in 3rd grade; math, reading, and writing in 4th grade, and math, reading, and science in 5th grade), and make-up days, our school is testing about a month altogether. We have to stagger testing days because our aides need to help each grade for students who need smaller groups for accommodations.

[nmeemn]

03:29 PM on 08/01/2011

3. It is in the interest of the powerful to make teachers appear as less than capable and less than professional to justify lower wages and less protections. By forcing teachers to teach "to the test," and tying their salaries to test performance, they can justify cuts by saying, "see, they don't perform." And as the salaries get lower, the chances of hiring someone GREAT - as in, someone with a valuable degree from a top university who is full of passion - dwindle, because that same person can go into a different field, make twice as much, and be recognized as a professional. The less you pay, the lower quality of worker you're going to get.

Offer double what you pay now, and you'll see the REAL cream of the crop start applying. The ones who are idealistic, work hard, get good grades and want to do something positive... but also know that their degree from a first-tier university is worth something, and are NOT willing to put themselves through what teachers are currently going through.

[nmeemn]

03:25 PM on 08/01/2011

2. The unions have destroyed the professional nature of teachers by insisting upon using "tenure" as the sole determinant of salary increases and reductions in personnel, to the exclusion of merit. The "tenure" system in the universities is not at all like the one in public schools; tenure should mean protection from retaliation by administrators, and a degree of intellectual independence -- due process. When someone is tenured, the administration must be able to show just cause in letting someone go... but not based on a 'seniority date.' If a teacher of 28 years is dialing it in waiting for retirement, that should not make them "safe."

Because there is no real incentive to continue to work hard and improve yourself throughout your career, some people can become jaded and just say, "eff it," and go in for the paycheck. Your job should never be completely safe. However, your job SHOULD be safe from administrators who just "don't like you." My mom worked at a school where the principal wanted all of the teachers (elementary) to be young and attractive females, and started to open cases for transferring or firing older teachers. He got away with it for about 5 years, until there were enough complaints that he was removed. That's why some level of protection is necessary.

[ljconner]

06:59 PM on 08/01/2011

This getting rid of older, experienced teachers for younger ones still exists......knowledge and ability aren't on the front burner anymorel

[nmeemn]

07:01 PM on 08/01/2011

Some of those "experienced" teachers are horrible and need to go. They get union protection just because they are "experienced."

The unions should be protecting those who are the BEST teachers, not those who've been paying dues the longest.

[nmeemn]

03:25 PM on 08/01/2011

I'm getting out of the teaching profession (high school) after 8 years, going to grad school, and then I'm going to pursue a career in academia, even if it means leaving the country. I am no longer willing to be treated as anything less than a professional. EVERY side is to blame for the lack of respect for our profession and for us as professionals.

Let's look at the problems:
1. The government (state and federal) are seeking to eliminate any semblance of intellectual independence by forcing us to teach standards at lockstep - we can be in trouble for being, say, two weeks ahead of another teacher in the same subject, spending less time on one subject and more on another. We are being asked to put ourselves on "pacing plans." We are required to give "common assessments" (i.e. tests/projects), and have the same grading systems. If a teacher is too "demanding," that teacher is pressured into dumbing down their curriculum or grading to match everyone else who is giving out mindless busywork.

(will continue)

[CASSIE60]

02:59 PM on 08/01/2011

Modern day teachers are not creative therefore, they can not encourage creativity from their students. Good teaching is not parroting. It's inspiring the children to think.

"I Think Therefore I Am" Rene Descartes. No truer words have ever been spoken.
The teacher today are indoctrinated therefore, all they can do is indoctrinate.

Ask a Teachers to define Education. You will be greatly surprised by their answers.

[nmeemn]

03:40 PM on 08/01/2011

It's not that we're not creative. They (government) don't WANT us to be creative. They want us to "make sure the kids pass the test." Drill, drill, drill.

When I taught U.S. History, one of my favorite culminating projects was to introduce kids to the culture of the hippie movement and the vietnam era by having them listen to protest songs AND songs that supported the troops (like Ballad of the Green Berets). Then I had them write their OWN music and lyrics in whatever genre they wanted, and they could either write about Vietnam, or they could also write about Iraq. They could get an A if they performed it. Unfortunately, projects like that take a week, and we're not allowed to do these things anymore because of pacing requirements - I can't take an extra week during the Vietnam unit to do that and get behind the other U.S. History teachers.

Every year we are reminded that any "pet projects," as they call them, have to wait until after testing. So... in-depth study of the Holocaust during World History is out. A unit on Native American culture in U.S. History is out because it's not part of the standards. And songwriting about war? Definitely out.

[daughterusmc]

04:56 PM on 08/01/2011

An education creates a person who is literate in a broad range of subjects, and encourages students to pursue their academic interests further. An education should give a student the perspective to judge the world in which they live in an informed and independent manner and not rely upon others to form their opinions for them or tell them what those opinions should be. It should also cultivate the ability to think critically and to be creative and resourceful. I am a Latin teacher, because I am educated I know what mitosis is and who Hammurabi is as well, and my education informs my opinions about the state of our Republic and institutions. I am not indoctrinated, nor do I indoctrinate, and I resent the statement that I am and that I do.
Educate= ex+ ducere=to lead forth

[ljconner]

07:04 PM on 08/01/2011

You must not teach for a school system with failing scores.........lucky you.

[papapj]

02:32 PM on 08/01/2011

...Just as surely as prohibition created illicit spirit stills, standardized tests will create cheating ESPECIALLY when you have teahcers livelihoods pegged to the results.

Just as surely as you cannot legislate morality (prohibition), you cannot quantify intelligence..you can't even DEFINE it, let alone commodotize it to fit a skewed market model. Teachers only have some say in how kids perform in tests, they only have control over what goes on at school, and even that is subject to funding whuich they have little if any control over. what goes on at home, and in society at large directly effects the kids, studies have shown this much. and to hold teachers at ransom for results from an illigitimate testing system, modelled on early 20th century eugenics and proven to be racially insensitive is fraud in itself of the highest order.

Teachers need to make noise. They are being pissed on from an great height. Ordered to make silk purses out of sows ears and given nothing but blunt scissors and sellotape to do so....Of course, this forum will soon be flooded with knuckleheads screaming about unions and cossetted teachers and such, but even as a non-teacher, I'd say...walk a mile in their shoes....

[drmindhealer]

02:47 PM on 08/01/2011

Fanned and Faved - Thank you!!!!!

[squeakette]

02:50 PM on 08/01/2011

Also F&F....very nice!