Diane Douglas’ Department of Education has asked the Attorney General to investigate suspicious erasures on AIMS tests from seven Arizona schools. There’s a whole lot to unpack in this story, more than I want to write about in one post. I’ll probably write more about it later in the week.
The ADE found that AIMS tests at the seven schools had an unusual number of wrong answers erased and correct answers bubbled in. Though it’s always possible that the schools are full of unusually diligent students who looked over their tests, found mistakes and corrected them, it’s extremely unlikely—wildly improbable, statistically—that’s what happened. It’s far more likely adults took the tests after they were handed in and changed wrong answers to right answers. Who those adults are—teachers, administrators, support staff or a combination—is an unanswered question at this point.
The seven schools are Edge, Children’s Success Academy, Integrity Education Centre, James Sandoval/Crown Point High School, Metcalf Elementary School, Red Rock Elementary School and Wade Carpenter Middle School. They’re a mixture of district and charter schools from around the state. The last on the list, Wade Carpenter Middle School in Nogales, has gotten a reasonable amount of press for the probable cheating. I wrote about it in March. The others are new to me.
But there’s nothing new about the problem, and it’s likely not limited to those seven schools. We’ve known for years that cheating on high stakes tests is going on around the country. A USA Today study done a few years ago found erase-and-replace patterns in lots of schools, and an AZ Republic study found instances here in Arizona. Most of them haven’t been confirmed because, who wants to dig deep enough to find out if adults in some schools changed answers on high stakes tests? Not the schools, certainly. And not the state departments of education in most cases. Things like this are embarrassing and cause lots of bad publicity. Better to ignore the cheating entirely or take care of the problem behind closed doors.
That’s what makes Douglas’ decision to kick the problem up to the Attorney General’s office important. Investigating this kind of cheating takes people trained in criminal investigations. The ADE staff doesn’t have that kind of training. The AG staff does.
In fact, the one time a major cheating scandal was discovered, in Atlanta, Georgia, they brought in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to look into the allegations, and it took dogged, diligent sleuthing to get some of the adults who participated in the erase-and-replace scheme to break their silence and confess to what they, and others, did. If there was serious wrong-doing at the Arizona schools, it’s unlikely it will be uncovered without a serious, time-consuming investigation.
The unanswered question is, what will AG Mark Brnovich do with the information handed to him? How deep will his investigation go? No telling at this point.
I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m rubbing my hands together in glee about seeing schools and their staffs “brought to justice.” The truth is, it breaks my heart. In Atlanta, people are going to jail over the cheating, and some of them are good people, good teachers. Yes, they’re adults who should be held accountable for their actions, but if the stakes weren’t so high in their schools, filled with children from low income families who tend to score low on the high stakes tests, they wouldn’t have done what they did.
But at the same time as it troubles me that teachers, schools—and indirectly, students—will suffer if these cheating allegations are proven, I want people to understand how little faith they should put in the results of high stakes tests and how potentially destructive they can be to schools that cheat, and to schools that play by the rules and are told they’re not getting the job done, because . . . Just look at those great test scores at Wade Carpenter Middle School in Nogales! Why can’t you do that? For a slew of reasons, we need to end our obsession with yearly high stakes tests that began with Bush’s No Child Left Behind program and has continued under the Obama administration.
This article appears in May 7-13, 2015.
Why would this surprise anyone?
I wonder if we could think of even more ways to make kids dislike school?
I looked at all of the presidential candidates and no one has education on their list presented to people to name priorities. Bernie Sanders does talk about it but it was not on his list either. Now please correct me if I am wrong because I really would like to know if there are candidates that specifically name education as a priority. I would like to see a national plan of improvement that gives me an opportunity for feedback. I did write the candidates I am interested in and have not heard anything yet. I think we need to be very proactive about education now. I am not surprised one bit David about possible cheating. This testing is a set up to either fire people(or possibly go to jail) or close the school for poor test results or deny funds to schools. Is there a win here? I don’t see it. Best news I have seen lately are Ducey’s poor polling numbers but we have a long way to go. Education and children must be a priority in our state and nation and it seems to have fallen by the wayside.
Let’s get real. Educrats and eduticians have stolen the public schools and turned them into sweat shops for teachers.
W used to call them bureaucrats and politicians but they found their way to the money, and the only way to fix it is to cut off their supply.
“The truth is, it breaks my heart. In Atlanta, people are going to jail over the cheating, and some of them are good people, good teachers. Yes, they’re adults who should be held accountable for their actions, but if the stakes weren’t so high in their schools, filled with children from low income families who tend to score low on the high stakes tests, they wouldn’t have done what they did.”
No, actually they are criminals who embarked on an illegal enterprise and were apprehended, tried and convicted for their efforts. I totally agree that the Bush and Obama administrations have damaged public education with their heavy handed meddling in what should be state and local policy and I’m concerned about entire cohorts of students being subjected to experimentation that is now clearly failing to achieve intended results.
The Atlanta convictions should be a wake up call to those administrators and teachers who have or would cook the books for personal gain. And with the state AG now involved, that wake up call is accompanied by a bucket of ice water.
That’s funny Rick. You are blaming the rules? I just tried that on a speeding ticket and told the officer I have to go this fast to keep from getting hit. Idf the stakes weren’t so high I could go the posted limit…but as it is now, I just can’t.
The Officer said you are too funny Rat. It cost me $268. He said rules are rules whether I like them or not.
I think you are misreading my comment Rat. The rule is “don’t cheat on the test scores” (cook the books). The Atlanta educators did and are in prison, much like being penalized for speeding and refusing to accept the consequences (paying a fine or going to traffic school) but on a greater scale with others (students, honest teachers and administrators) tarred with the same brush.
David seems to believe (on what basis?) that the felons in Atlanta never would have committed their crimes without the pressure of high stakes testing and “schools filled with children from low income families.” I believe the vast majority of teachers and administrators facing the same issues do not cheat and do their best under difficult circumstances.
I’m sorry I did. We are in total agreement. Education is broken in the US and everybody is looking to point fingers. I don’t know how you bring back accountability at this point, but I know more money is not the answer. In a way, money is part of the problem.
My apologies. Comprehension is not my strong point since the transplant.
Rick, if you want to know the basis for my comments about the pressures of high stakes testing on teachers in schools with low income students, read Wrong Answer in the July 21, 2014, issue of the New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/07/… . It’s long, complex and (for me) heartbreaking — by far the best thing I’ve read about the Atlanta cheating scandal.
Thanks David, I did read the New Yorker piece. My conclusion: the Atlanta Public School system was run like a criminal syndicate and too many teachers and administrators (over 150) participated, acquiesced or said nothing. Some wanted the bonus money (up to $5,000), some were afraid of being punished or terminated if they refused to participate or “squealed,” and some didn’t give a rat’s ass and continued to pick up a paycheck.
But at the end of the day a few had the courage to call in the authorities and ultimately the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The rest is history; perp walks, teachers and administrators in the slammer. Worse, the students of Atlanta were screwed twice, one by the administrators and teachers directly involved in the cheating and again by those same “professionals” who did nothing remotely resembling acting as role models and dedicated educators. What these young people have learned is not in any standardized curriculum but it is a lesson they will not forget.
Did you find the story a little heartbreaking, Rick? Teachers who were obviously dedicated to their students getting involved in the cheating, then getting in deeper and deeper? Students, parents and communities that were overjoyed with their successes, only to have the pedestal knocked out from under them? And schools around the country with low income students who were told, “Why can’t you be as good as the Atlanta schools? If they can do it, why can’t you?” (Which, by the way, is what schools in Arizona have been told based on the “success” of Nogales schools, which look like they may have been cheating since 2010.)
David, what I did find heartbreaking was the silent complicity of those teachers and administrators who said and did nothing about the cheating all around them. Those who said and did nothing are as guilty as the ones sitting in the slammer. So no, I am not heartbroken for cheaters, liars and criminals.
I AM heartbroken for the kids in those schools who believed, for whatever reasons, they had really succeeded and then were made to look ridiculous when the truth finally emerged. They are the victims not the con men and women who played them for profit .
Rick, here’s an interesting sidelight to the story as told in the New Yorker. It appears, based on NAEP tests which are the gold standard when it comes to testing (you can’t teach to them), that kids at the cheating schools actually did make some improvement on their NAEP scores. A possible take-away is, if you tell kids they’re doing great, that they’re winners, that you believe in them, they’ll actually try harder and do better on the tests, maybe just because they’re more focused a try harder on the tests, or maybe because they actually improve due to the positive reinforcement — even if they’re being lied to. Positive reinforcement done right can lead to greater motivation and possibly higher achievement. I don’t know what to do with that possible conclusion, but I find it interesting and thought provoking.
I disagree with so many things that have been said here. THe problem is education has been turned into for profit and competition. Does not work . Educating children is not a business like a corporation and when they get back to fully funding regular public schools , problems like this will disappear. All children are different. If anyone tells you differently they are wrong. period. Years and years the public system worked ( I heard on the radio a while ago…’back when public education was good’…. ) with always room for improvement as in anything. Somebody got the bright idea to change the whole system. What a mess and you people who are ‘sick’ about all of those who stood by, you have no idea who did what . I get so tired of this problem being made about those teachers and schools. It is like anything that is created for profit. You get fraud. So look at the problem , not the outcome.Yes those people have consequences… so quit beating a dead horse. SOme are in jail. For those that think there is any test in this country that is any good…. you are misinformed. I was just told there is no test give in the U.S. now that is normed. That is extremely important besides the fact there is no good standardized test. It is a joke.There are so many better ways to evaluate teachers and children.
Some of the comments in this stream and in the stream on David’s piece on the Nogales schools remind me of Jean Valjean versus Inspector Javert. What do we think of a system that hounds a man to death for stealing a piece of bread to keep a sick and starving child alive? If you’re inspector Javert, there is no moral to this story other than that “He should be punished!”
What do we think of a school system where the schools serving the poor are shut down and their teachers punished because they cannot miraculously raise children to the level where they can clear some absurdly high bar set for them by distant officials who know absolutely nothing about local conditions and deprivations and less than nothing about how to develop relationships with children that will support, rather than undermine, their development? The simple (and punitive, and self-righteous) interpretations some people want to impose on the Atlanta teaching scandal smack of Javertianism, but I guess some people didn’t get Victor Hugo’s point, or perhaps they never bothered to read him….
But there are other authors who deliver the same message. This notion comes up repeatedly in some other books that have been read by many, but here again, not many seem to get the point: “Go and learn what this means: I require mercy…”
Well looky here, an article on education that does not involve mudslinging at BASIS.
They don’t cheat on high stakes tests there, they just score better on them than the entire nation.
These schools should take notes.
Wow to those of you who claim that this is a simple problem of criminals-if this is how you feel about a group of teachers, you must really froth at the mouth about the leaders of Wall Street that just about sent the world reeling into the greatest Recession we have seen since the Great Depression and completely skated all the way to the bank…..or in that case was it the little guys who took out loans that they couldn’t pay? I submit that there is a double standard at work here, and that it has little to do with criminality and much to do with public education and how you feel about it.
And as for Basis, they don’t need to cheat on tests because if a student doesn’t do well on a test (like gets a C) he or she is invited to repeat the entire year. So what do self respecting high achievers who had made it past the hurdles to get into that school do? Why, they leave after being “uninvited”, (no harm, no foul), RETURN TO the public schools (thank god they are still there!) which leaves Basis a much smaller graduating class than freshman class.”Winnowing” will do that for you.
The public schools will take and teach EVERYONE. And if that is not a lofty and worthy goal, I don’t know what is.
Public school teachers are some of the biggest and wisest critics of public schools. They know what’s wrong but they have been silenced by threats and retaliation. I continue to refer to it as the old postal service.
You know what I mean.
Public school teachers are some of the biggest and wisest critics of public schools. They know what’s wrong but they have been silenced by threats and retaliation. I continue to refer to it as the old postal service.
You know what I mean.
@ Betts Putnam-Hidalgo . Where is your proof of children who receive C’s being asked to repeat grades?
The brand of teaching that BASIS offers is not for everyone.
If I am not mistaken, don’t most public school “winnow” their own population with Schools for Gifted and HONORS classes? Tell me I am wrong on that so I can send you the proof of small classes taught by the most talented and enthusiastic teachers.
Honors classes and college are not for everyone. The same as Technical trade schools are not for everyone.
Basis is not elitist. It is there for children who want to excell in academics and attend an elite college. Is that wrong?