CHEATING SCANDAL

[Curt]

http://news.yahoo.com/americas-bigg...eating-scandal-unfolds-atlanta-213734183.html

Really shocking.

I'm sure we've all encountered cheating in school.
I am guilty of it in High School, but I cheated myself, and made a conscious decision to never cheat in College (otherwise whats the point of being there, I thought)

What do you guys think about this? Atlanta Members? Abasuto? Are things really that bad out there that a cheating conspiracy is needed?

"And that’s what ought to alarm us," adds Ms. Downey, "that these professionals ultimately felt their students could not even pass basic competency tests, despite targeted school improvement plans, proven reforms, and state-of-the-art teacher training."

 

[aria]

There's only one way to fix Atlanta at this point, and I like to call it the "Tecumseh Plan".

 

[Marek]

No Child Left Behind!

 

[RabbitTroop]

Um... I really hate to be "that-guy," but... Is this really news to anyone? Are there really people out there that didn't know this type of thing goes on?

 

[aria]

Um... I really hate to be "that-guy," but... Is this really news to anyone? Are there really people out there that didn't know this type of thing goes on?

Is that your assumption or are you privy to information?

 

[Lagduf]

There's only one way to fix Atlanta at this point, and I like to call it the "Tecumseh Plan".

LOL. That bad, eh?

 

[RabbitTroop]

Is that your assumption or are you privy to information?

Pfft... I watched the Wire, yo.

 

[NeoSneth]

this is a factor of "No Child Left Behind"

If these kids don't pass, the teachers get f'd. And kids are stupid.....so ...

 

[norton9478]

99% of the time, it's the parents' fault.

I went to school with all sorts of kids with learning problems. The ones that had good parents went to college. The ones with bad/nonexistant parents dropped/failed out. The ones with so-so parents usually graduated.

 

[abasuto]

No Child Left Behind!

This right here sums it up and it's why I bet you this cheating shit is going on in school districts across the country.

Basically, schools get funding based on how well they do. The better the school does, the more funding it gets. Schools doing poorly (low grad rates, low test scores) get less funding.

What this does is beg for cheating. If a school district wants more money, well, just increase the test scores.

Sure, the hard way would be to honestly increase the test scores and grad rates, but that generally requires more funing. So it puts the school in a cycle of less funding..doing worse..less funding..worse...continue.

The easiest way out of this cycle is simply to bullshit the test scores, which seems easy as hell to do. It's like telling a private company that you'll increase pay based on customer satisfaction cards, then leaving those cards with the employees. Hell, they'll just change all the answers to excellent.

And yeah, Beverly Hall, APS's former superintendent who recently stepped down no doubt was the mastermind behind this. Probably from day one.

Also, before this whole ordeal hit the fan there was former teachers, dating back 5-8 years who back then were telling everyone they were being extorted and threatend into changing test scores. No one listened though.

 

[Eric]

Is that your assumption or are you privy to information?

It was in a study done in Freakonomics. No conspiracy (at least they didn't go looking for one) but there were indications that in the cases of previously low performing students the teachers went to so far as to erase a grouping of answers and replace them with a set that was almost (sadly) entirely correct. This is on top of the (probably standard) practice of teaching students questions based on or taken straight from the tests.

I wonder what tipped them off to start looking for a reason why there were sudden increases in test scores before rewarding the money to the district.

 

[Cylotron]

i remember in high school i had a computer class and always came in early to screw around with all the pc's(including the teacher's)... and whenever he gave the class assignments i'd always finish well before anyone else and would then go screw around with him or load games onto the computers and just sit there and play them. finally, about 3 months in to the class he said to me "i will give you an A if you do not show up to class again". so then during that period i'd just go hang out in the drama class.


[EDIT] after high school i looked him up online and would occasionally call to say hi or email him. he loved it

 

[norton9478]

Those scores would have never been questioned if these kids did not have Spanish surnames and come from barrio schools. You know that.

 

[evil wasabi]

I never cheated in school but saw it all the time in law school especially. Maybe I would gave if I knew I could get away with it. the things I saw in my law school I witnessed when sitting for the bar - but in those few occurrences, the student was caught and disqualified. Obviously some systems are more serious than others.

 

[Marek]

but saw it all the time in law school especially.

That seems fitting to me. Lawyers, lol

 

[aria]

That's weird because I never saw it in law school --mostly because it was impossible. Most classes had just one grade: a three of four hour (depending on total units), open-book essay exam where you just had to answer some batshit long prompt (or two or three) that the prof came up with that week. It was impossible to cheat because you had all the answers in front of you, you just had to be able to apply them quickly and with adequate reasoning. The handful of multiple choice exams I had in law school were also open book --that's when you know the damn thing is going to be hard, when the professor is more or less daring you to take time away to look up an answer

If I could go back I would create an outline based purely on model answers supplied by the professors, that would be legal and help streamline better quality (at least to the particular professor) answers.

I suppose a person could cheat on a upper-division law school paper, but that would seem more likely to be discovered. Several of my seminars just had weekly papers/journal-style work requirements.

The class I've been teaching in law school is completely impossible to cheat in --it's 100% in-class performance.

 

[evil wasabi]

That's weird because I never saw it in law school --mostly because it was impossible. Most classes had just one grade: a three of four hour (depending on total units), open-book essay exam where you just had to answer some batshit long prompt (or two or three) that the prof came up with that week. It was impossible to cheat because you had all the answers in front of you, you just had to be able to apply them quickly and with adequate reasoning. The handful of multiple choice exams I had in law school were also open book --that's when you know the damn thing is going to be hard, when the professor is more or less daring you to take time away to look up an answer

If I could go back I would create an outline based purely on model answers supplied by the professors, that would be legal and help streamline better quality (at least to the particular professor) answers.

I suppose a person could cheat on a upper-division law school paper, but that would seem more likely to be discovered. Several of my seminars just had weekly papers/journal-style work requirements.

The class I've been teaching in law school is completely impossible to cheat in --it's 100% in-class performance.

Cheating I saw the most involved using cell phones during exams. Probably to check notes. Law school exams required a lot of issue spotting and analysis that were not simply on the exam in front of you. First year I would see people sneaking in notes with their exam that they should have left outside the room. Thing about the exams was that they only had a proctor or two and it was never someone who gave a shit.

 

[abasuto]

Those scores would have never been questioned if these kids did not have Spanish surnames and come from barrio schools. You know that.

You're totally wrong on this race card attempt.

Atlanta's city limits has almost no Latinos, they account for less 2% of all students in Atlanta's public schools. Latinos here all live in select outer burbs which are not involved in this scandel.

Some of the schools involved are 95%+ black, some are 90%+ white. Sorry, but the race card will need to stay in the pocket for another day.

The reason this got out was because it was going on for 10 years, it was going on in nearly 75% of the schools in a major city's district and over a course of 10 years the number of former teachers coming forward became overwhelming.

Also, the former superintendent is currently living in Hawaii in a nice condo she no doubt bought with the ungoldy sized pension she allocated to herself right before she bailed. Which happened to be right when the investigation began. She had a lawyer today issue a statement saying she knew nothing of any cheating.

 

[SNKorSWM]

Even 20 years ago, grade inflation or "curve" were prevalent in HS and colleges to boost gpa. This scandal was simply the next logical step.

In eastern asian education system, grades were strictly given numerically. That means instead of both getting F, a student with 59 is, although bad, still worlds better than another student getting 0. This allows more accurate assessment of a student's ability.

in the US people with 4.0 gpa are a dime a dozen.

 

[abasuto]

I remember when I first started school a 73 was a D, anything lower was an F.

Now 68 is a D, anything lower is an F.

What a brilliant way to increase education, just make it easier to pass. Which is exactly what American education has been for the last half century.

At the rate we're going a kid could fall into a coma at age 12 and still get his diploma at 17.

 

[Curt]

Um... I really hate to be "that-guy," but... Is this really news to anyone? Are there really people out there that didn't know this type of thing goes on?

I'd like to address this post.

Of course everyone is aware of cheating and even conspiracies. What makes this case/scandal/thread relevant is the absolutely mind-boggling scale that it went to. And the possible repercussions to our youth, the strength of our country, jobforce, and economy. This is BAD for America. We have failed these children.

 

[evil wasabi]

I'd like to address this post.

Of course everyone is aware of cheating and even conspiracies. What makes this case/scandal/thread relevant is the absolutely mind-boggling scale that it went to. And the possible repercussions to our youth, the strength of our country, jobforce, and economy. This is BAD for America. We have failed these children.

Speak for yourself. I haven't failed the children. I just steer the fuck clear of them.

 

[RabbitTroop]

I'd like to address this post.

Of course everyone is aware of cheating and even conspiracies. What makes this case/scandal/thread relevant is the absolutely mind-boggling scale that it went to. And the possible repercussions to our youth, the strength of our country, jobforce, and economy. This is BAD for America. We have failed these children.

I'd like to thank you for personally addressing my post. I also would like to take this opportunity to say this is nothing new, and happened while you were in school as well. Your education was likely marginalized. Take a hard think back to those standardized tests the state would come in and administer and what type of pressure that was put on the teachers and school administration for their students to pass. This widespread cheating has been around for a long time.

 

[norton9478]

You're totally wrong on this race card attempt.

Atlanta's city limits has almost no Latinos, they account for less 2% of all students in Atlanta's public schools. Latinos here all live in select outer burbs which are not involved in this scandel.

Some of the schools involved are 95%+ black, some are 90%+ white. Sorry, but the race card will need to stay in the pocket for another day.

It was a movie reference.

 

[NGT]

The whole state testing thing is all screwed. It should be based on individual student grown and not the level they hit that year. If that changed, I don't think you'd see as many cheating teachers. Also, the US should take after Mexico with their retention policies. If you're not ready, you don't go on. I've been told I have to send a student on to the next grade because they were too tall and had a younger brother in the grade below them. How does that help scores or the kids themselves?