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Possible Cheating on DCPS Standardized Tests
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jsteele
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USA Today has a lengthy article reporting on the high erasure rate on standardized tests in DCPS. Noyes gets most of the attention because it has been considered a star due to rising test scores. However, according to this article, Noyes has also been a leader in wrong answers being erased and correct answers marked:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-03-28-1Aschooltesting28_CV_N.htm While there could be an innocent explanation for the high erasure rate at Noyes, it does highlight how cheating might serve several agendas. Teachers and Principals who show test score increases get bonuses -- or simply get to keep their jobs because of positive IMPACT evaluations. DCPS -- and especially its media-hungry former chancellor -- get to show how the focus on testing is working and drive even more media attention. With the media focus, nobody wants to investigate and uncover a possibly ugly truth. |
Anonymous
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Isn't this an old story? We started hearing about this scandal a year ago. The only new thing I see in this article is a comparison with 2010 results (which is an interesting addition). But the cheating took place in previous years.
The real news to me isn't that the cheating took place, but that the national media is finally paying attention to it. It would be nice if folks outside of DC actually noticed that Michelle Rhee doesn't walk on water--but honestly I'm not holding my breath. |
Anonymous
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Yet another reason why basing everything on test scores is such a bad idea.
Of course now if 7 when test scores go down everyone will blame Gray for it, even though it has nothing to do with him. |
Anonymous
| God forbid this cause Rhee to stumble on her waiting for superman victory lap, or honorariums to go down. What a truly pernicious reign she had. |
Anonymous
Isn't this something that the Washington Post should have investigated? how embarrassing to be "scooped" by teh "investigative reporting" of USAToday! Hope this means there will be a push to increase School Board oversight of DCPS central office. and yes, put to death the national hagiography of Rhee. |
Anonymous
ITA. Erasures are old news. The real story is whether schools are putting more effort into teaching HOW to take tests than teaching content to master tests. I've seen seen this first-hand in a few DCPS charters since 2007. Teachers become test-taking coaches, often reluctantly. Some teach intense Kaplan-like SAT mechanical tactics with 3rd graders. Three years later, surprise surprise, kids are now in middle school making "highest growth in NAEP scores nationwide". The Michelle Miracle? As an AA parent of boys, I'm concerned about perverse incentives to "close the gap". No offense, but my boys have a much higher bar than the profiency level of white kids in ward 3. But some smart kids know they can slack off on DC BAS then rock DC CAS and get free trip to Six Flags . No bonus for advanced BTW. College bound kids can opt out of putting any energy into CAS to focus on grades, AP classes and SATs. Why should they be responsible for their school's AYP? It's painful to see "good" younger kids who love to please adults bust their butts to squeeze over the line from basic. (Hello erasers.) Only to find when they hit proficient, the school pats them on the head and shifts to the next kid in the subgroup. If they had slid to below basic, they'd be getting more one-on-one time with teachers. Most disturbing in IMHO is how DC's school choice free-for-all incents cherry-picking of high potential subgroups. The more NCLB boxes you can check the better. Yet the one most reliable indicator of academic achievement globally, the education level of a mother, appears nowhere on enrollment forms. |
Anonymous
| PP: Hear, hear. I'm growing increasingly disillusioned with NCLB. |
Anonymous
| It may be old news to many, but as a preschool parent new to DCPS I'm very interested in this article and the underlying documents. Greatly relieved to see that our school (Bancroft), which is often bashed for low test scores, is not on any of these lists. At least we have honest teachers. |
Anonymous
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PP - don't assume that it is teachers doing the erasing (if it is cheating, after all). It could be happening at the administration office level, not at the classroom level.
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Anonymous
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What's even more disgusting is the $10,000, $5,000 bonuses that teachers and principals received for getting these miraculous test score increases. By the way, Post did have this story back in 2009. The newer story is that the investigations into cheating were never seriously undertaken. Hmmm...wonder why?
September 23, 2009 Wednesday Regional Edition 6 Schools Had Most Changed Answers; Some 'Flagged' D.C. Classes See Scores Fall in '09 BYLINE: Bill Turque; Washington Post Staff Writer SECTION: METRO; Pg. B01 LENGTH: 1152 words Bowen Elementary was part of what District officials hailed as the success story of their 2008 standardized test results. The reading proficiency rate at the small school near the District's Southwest waterfront jumped 27 points, to 63 percent of the student population. The math score surged 17 points, to 41 percent. Public elementary school scores citywide rose an average of 11 points in math and eight points in reading, a hopeful sign of improvement in Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's first year on the job. [ edited to comply with copyright laws. ] |
Anonymous
| This makes me really upset. What is even sadder is that we can't trust DCPS to do a good investigation. |
Anonymous
The old stories said that there was some evidence of cheating by erasures but the DCPS ultimately found it inconclusive. The new story actually provides statistics that appear pretty damning (i.e. average erasure to correct answer is 1 per test, at Noyes it was 12.7, an almost impossibility statistical occurrence). Plus, that the DCPS did a very cursory investigation that did not allow its investigators to request important information. So the U.S.A. Today story is way more damning in terms of the DCPS and its reaction. A similar scandal hit the Chicago school systems years ago and the superintendent (now Secretary of Education Arne Duncan) did a very thorough investigation, fired teachers that were found cheating, and tried to change the controls related to the testing to prevent it from happening again. The DCPS tried to just bury the story, yet rewarded the prinicipals and teachers who may have cheated with cash bonuses. |
Anonymous
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16:39, I'm the one who called this "old news"--thanks for explaining the relevance. I hadn't caught that in the USAT article.
On a side note, while I can understand the fury over Noyes' employees receiving bonuses based on fraudulent scores, I hope this doesn't turn people against the TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) cash bonus program in general. My son's school, Barnard Elementary, has been the recipient of two TEAM grants over the past 5 or so years (with never an allegation of cheating!), and I think it's been a great way to recognize the incredible work not only of teachers, but also of ALL school staff members (even the janitors get TEAM bonuses, in what I think is a brilliant acknowledgement that everyone in a school works to set expectations and help kids learn). |
Anonymous
Sad, but not surprising. DCPS can't be trusted to offer a good education, why would we trust it to do a good investigation? It's not a credible, trustworthy organization. |
Anonymous
Well since mayoral takeover, there is oversight of DCPS directly by the chancellor's boss and charter schools by mayoral appointees and financers of charter facilities which is the right path for education reform. Uh, I mean, oh wait, it's just, um... oh s__t! PP mentions interesting question on incentives. What happened to TEAM? How do we keep quality non-teacher staff if test scores are weighted heavily? Case in point. Janney http://www.cmmonline.com/management-training/article/dcschool-to-name-hallway-in-honor-of-retired-custodian) While it's true in for-profit world that high performers in revenue value performance based incentives, the main driver in retaining the best non-sales talent is quality of their direct manager. Quality of co-workers is a close second. Group incentives are quite common. Someone explain to me again how exactly IMPACT is supposed to work if some highly effective teachers reject bonuses despite a recession? It feels like there are limits on the transfer of for-profit performance models to education. Anyone know what Kaya is looking at for IMPACT changes? She herself said system has gone "data crazy". What's next? |