Eleven Atlanta Public Schools educators were convicted this past week of racketeering — an organized effort to cheat on standardized tests dating back over a decade.
Education Week features a round-up of “strong” teacher reactions to the verdict, some of which place the blame squarely on the standardized testing craze:
ellenp: I think the pressure of NCLB and accountability provided the stress for a cheating scandal like this. I hope these teachers do not receive excessive sentences. I think racketeering is a bit of a stretch.
Mimi Hendrix: Cheating is wrong. But, in their defense, I think they are driven to try to up scores. So much rides on these stupid unfair tests that it is sickening. It does the children no good at all. The emphasis needs to be on educating the kids, not test scores.
Edd Doerr: Yes! High-stakes testing and its promoters are the real villains in this story. A few teachers are prosecuted, but never the plutocrat pushers of the diversion of public funds to special interest private schools.
RSG @MrsGrooms4: @EdWeekTeacher salary and/or job dependent test scores cause this to happen. NOT condoning, but some things r beyond control #atlcheating
Christina Pitcher-Cozzone High stakes tests that determine funding and salaries are the root of the problem. Fear causes people to do crazy things. 20 years is absurd.
Others are more explicit in their denunciation of the teachers’/administrators’ actions, but believe the immediate jailing — and possible twenty-year prison term — are quite excessive.
Count yours truly in the latter group. In an age when too many non-violent offenders get prison time, it seems to me pink slips and some hefty fines would have been sufficient for the convicted.
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