Dive Brief:
- Education Week reports on various studies showing teachers who have cheated on standardized testing have a long-term negative effect on students, and new research from Stanford University economists looks at what happens to students whose scores were fabricated.
- One consequence is that some students were subsequently unable to take remediation classes or partake in other kinds of intervention that may have otherwise helped their academic performance.
- These trends disproportionately affect students of color — 70% of the students whose scores were altered on the Regents tests were black and Hispanic.
Dive Insight:
Scandals involving cheating by administrators and educators have plagued a number of U.S. cities. Nashville schools, for example, had the veracity of their success questioned due to allegations of cheating when a group of whistleblower teachers told local media that certain worst-performing students were left out of reported overall test results. And notably, in Atlanta, a highly publicized cheating scandal led to the indictment of a dozen educators found guilty on conspiracy charges for changing student test scores. An NPR investigation into graduation rates found widespread cheating and score-inflating across the U.S.
Questions continue to hover around whether stakes related to standardized testing are too high. By tying scores to teacher evaluations, educators can be terminated when failing student performance leads to failing school designations. Educators have noted “current testing policies have created a climate where high scores must be acquired in any way possible.” At the same time, some cities have formalized their approach to possible cheating allegations; in New York City, a Department of Education task force was created to find and report incidents of cheating on the part of teachers and administrators.