District Administration - November/December 2011 - (Page 50)

Taking the Helm in Cheating Scandals District leaders are increasing security and laying down the law to avert cheating on high-stakes tests. by Ron schachteR L ast July, the atlanta Public schools became the poster district for teachers and principals behaving badly. state investigators found that, in 44 schools across the city, 178 teachers and administrators had systematically cheated on the state standardized tests taken by their students in 2009. besides creating a local uproar and clouding the departure of longtime atlanta superintendent beverly hall at the end of June, the far-flung scandal has spurred the involvement of Georgia Gov. sonny Perdue, who authorized the investigation when the cheating allegations arose a year earlier, and of the Fulton county Grand Jury, which has jurisdiction over atlanta and is looking into possible criminal activity on the part of the educators involved. For all the unwelcome attention, though, atlanta is hardly alone. in early august, the school District of Philadelphia singled out 13 schools where student answer sheets were altered after standardized testing. That revelation made for a rocky end to the tenure of schools ceo arlene ackerman, who left at the end of that month. earlier this year in los angeles, six charter schools, all run by the same educational company, had their charters revoked by the los angeles unified school District board of education after it was revealed that the company’s founder had instructed teachers and principals to open standardized test packets in advance and coach students on the right answers. and the baltimore city Public schools revealed cheating at two elementary schools on the Maryland school assessment during 2009 and 2010. This scandal is not limited to large urban districts. For example, Waterbury (conn.) Public schools is reeling under allegations of cheating on state tests by 15 teachers and two administrators at hopeful elementary school last year. Robert schaeffer, public education director for the national center for Fair and open testing, an advocacy organization in cambridge, Mass., sees an even wider swath of teachers and principals crossing ethical boundaries. he argues that they are respond50 November/December 2011 Clockwise from left: Ga. Gov. Nathan Deal speaks last July about the largest-ever cheating scandal in the U.S., in which nearly half of Atlanta Public Schools allowed cheating to go unchecked for 10 years. Atlanta Superintendent Erroll Davis, center, meets Ga. Board of Education member Kenneth Mason at a meeting in which the state Department of Education and Atlanta’s school board agreed to give the board more time to deal with the scandal fallout. The School District of Philadelphia’s executive director of accountability and assessment, Dan Piotrowski, on left, meets with Steven Goff, assessment coordinator. Bottom, Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Andrés Alonso, who warned on the district Web site that cheaters would lose their license, speaks to a student about his classwork. District Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - November/December 2011

District Administration - November/December 2011
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Inside the Law
Administrator Profile
District Profile
CIO news
How to Update Your Network on a Budget
The Importance of IT Team Unity
Creating an Anti-Bullying Program With the Resources You Have
The Ultimate Empowerment Program for Parents
Taking the Helm in Cheating Scandals
Readers’ Choice: Top 100 Products
New Directions
Professional Opinion
Problem/Solution
Going Mobile

District Administration - November/December 2011