If you have watched the news you have heard about the Atlanta schools cheating scandal. Thirty five educators have been indicted in a cheating scandal dating back to 2001. Fifty two schools. From the Superintendent on down this activity was actively pursued. The gains were monetary, career enhancing, and according to some, to just keep their jobs. The whole thing is just disgraceful.
I have long said that funding for the teachers and school districts should not be tied to testing. This incident is proof of that folly. The temptation for cheating is enormous. Unfortunately, in this case, it was too much. I think what amazes me the most about this scandal is the number of educators involved. A few bad apples will always exist, but 35 have been indicted. Those are the ones the prosecutor feels he has evidence against. My feeling is a great deal more had to know, or at the very least suspect. Certainly any teacher would be aware of the capabilities of their students. When the test results were published and the scores were inflated, no one notices ? I think not. And this has continued since 2001 ?
Some of these teachers say they went along to keep their jobs. Some are saying they were forced into this. I say that is a poor excuse. Ask any educator why they want to teach ? The answer won't be, for the money. We are all aware of the salaries teachers make. The answer is almost always to educate young minds. I'm no teacher but I wouldn't cheat those children. And that is what has happened here. All those children have been affected. False test scores are now a part of their permanent record. Any one of these children presenting these records for admission into any college or institution of higher learning will be in question. Is that fair to them ? You can not get that time back. You cannot just retake the tests. These educators took that from these students for their own gain.
There will be those that will try to convince us that the teachers were victims in this. They were forced into the cheating. Nonsense. You will hear how they had to do this, for the children. They needed the money for the schools and consequently the children. I for one will not buy into that. An old adage comes to mind, two wrongs don't make a right. Cheating children for your gain.
We send our children to school and trust the educators there. They are supposed to teach our children. What has this bunch taught ? That cheating is alright ? It is a national disgrace. Now a cloud of doubt will hover over all educators. That is a shame because they are certainly more good honest teachers than these bad apples.
Standardized testing is at the heart of this. Or more specifically, monetary gains tied to the results of standardized testing. That begs a question. How should we measure and reward the effectiveness of our teachers ? That is a difficult answer to be sure. I certainly don't have the answer to that one. I do think standardized testing is a difficult proposition. I don't know of any standardized students.
I have long said that funding for the teachers and school districts should not be tied to testing. This incident is proof of that folly. The temptation for cheating is enormous. Unfortunately, in this case, it was too much. I think what amazes me the most about this scandal is the number of educators involved. A few bad apples will always exist, but 35 have been indicted. Those are the ones the prosecutor feels he has evidence against. My feeling is a great deal more had to know, or at the very least suspect. Certainly any teacher would be aware of the capabilities of their students. When the test results were published and the scores were inflated, no one notices ? I think not. And this has continued since 2001 ?
Some of these teachers say they went along to keep their jobs. Some are saying they were forced into this. I say that is a poor excuse. Ask any educator why they want to teach ? The answer won't be, for the money. We are all aware of the salaries teachers make. The answer is almost always to educate young minds. I'm no teacher but I wouldn't cheat those children. And that is what has happened here. All those children have been affected. False test scores are now a part of their permanent record. Any one of these children presenting these records for admission into any college or institution of higher learning will be in question. Is that fair to them ? You can not get that time back. You cannot just retake the tests. These educators took that from these students for their own gain.
There will be those that will try to convince us that the teachers were victims in this. They were forced into the cheating. Nonsense. You will hear how they had to do this, for the children. They needed the money for the schools and consequently the children. I for one will not buy into that. An old adage comes to mind, two wrongs don't make a right. Cheating children for your gain.
We send our children to school and trust the educators there. They are supposed to teach our children. What has this bunch taught ? That cheating is alright ? It is a national disgrace. Now a cloud of doubt will hover over all educators. That is a shame because they are certainly more good honest teachers than these bad apples.
Standardized testing is at the heart of this. Or more specifically, monetary gains tied to the results of standardized testing. That begs a question. How should we measure and reward the effectiveness of our teachers ? That is a difficult answer to be sure. I certainly don't have the answer to that one. I do think standardized testing is a difficult proposition. I don't know of any standardized students.
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