School Cheating Allegations Fuel Ethics Debate in U.S. Press
Aug 8th, 2011 • Posted in: NewsWho and what is to blame — overreliance on tests or search for the easy way out?
VARIOUS DATELINES
Cheating scandals that have erupted in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Baltimore, the District of Columbia, and other places have renewed ethics debate on a number of levels, including whether too much emphasis is being placed on standardized testing and whether unreasonable pressure pushed teachers over the edge to the point of faking test results.
Various U.S. publications last week examined the moral and practical issues attendant to such cheating. Among the coverage:
- In a widely reprinted editorial, the Los Angeles Times said that calls to crack down on both cheating and the pervasiveness of testing were overreactions. “States should take reasonable steps to rein in cheating by regularly examining samples of tests each year for high numbers of erasures, a sign that a teacher may have changed wrong answers, and scrutinizing schools whose scores seem a little too good to believe,” says the unbylined editorial. “Any school professional who cheats or sanctions cheating should be fired. Yet states should not work so hard to prevent cheating that they create a whole new set of onerous regulations; in New York, educators complain that it is now so difficult for students to change an answer that many don’t bother…. Most teachers aren’t cheaters, and they shouldn’t be treated as though they are. Nor should standardized tests be eliminated because some educators respond by taking unethical shortcuts. Cheating is wrong; accountability isn’t.”
- In an interview with the journal Education Week, Gregory Cizek, a professor of educational management who assisted in the probe of the Atlanta cheating allegations, refuted the idea of getting rid of tests, pointing out that no one suggests getting rid of sports because some athletes cheat. “Blaming tests or accountability systems for things we don’t like is a dumb idea. Like banning thermometers for revealing fevers,” Mr. Cizek wrote in an opinion piece. “Tests are a measure of student achievement,” he added in an interview. “It’s difficult to imagine any measurement system that doesn’t take into account student achievement.”
- In an editorial, the Chicago Tribune acknowledged that testing raises the stakes for students and educators, but maintained that accountability is not an excuse for dishonesty. “Some educators blame cheating on increased federal, state and local pressure on schools to improve student test scores. We understand that more accountability means more pressure. That’s a risk in every profession, whether you’re talking Wall Street or LaSalle Street. The higher the stakes, the greater the pressure…. Teachers and principals who break the rules don’t just compromise themselves. They cheat students of the chance to learn.”
Sources: Chicago Tribune, Aug. 4 — Education Week, Aug. 4 Los Angeles Times, Aug. 3.
For more information, see: Related Newsline story, July 25 — Related Newsline story, July 18 — Related Newsline story, July 11 — Related Newsline story, Apr. 18 — Related Newsline story, Apr. 11.
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