Schools need a better way to determine academic achievement

Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011 | 2 a.m.

Investigators in Georgia last month issued a report outlining wide-scale cheating in Atlanta schools. The report named more than 170 educators who were allegedly involved in cheating on standardized tests, including changing students’ answers.

Educators had an incentive: The inflated test scores brought in more money to the schools, including bonuses for teachers and principals. Prosecutors are considering criminal charges in the case.

There have been isolated incidents of cheating over the years throughout the nation, but the scope of the problem in Atlanta is notable. It may not be unique, however.

In Washington, D.C., investigators are reconsidering test results after a USA Today series that reported on abnormally high rates of “erasures” — times when a student erased a wrong answer and made the correct choice.

Erasures themselves don’t demonstrate cheating, and school officials in Washington say they haven’t found any evidence of wrongdoing. The erasures have become an issue because they came at a time when Washington schools were making great gains in test scores.

As The New York Times reported Monday, Michelle Rhee, who was chancellor of the schools at the time, has refused USA Today’s repeated interview requests. That’s ironic given that Rhee, who pushed for improvements on test scores, has been such an outspoken proponent of school accountability.

As we have noted before, schools and educators do need to be held accountable, but there have to be reasonable goals and methods of measuring performance. The federal No Child Left Behind Act has put such an emphasis on high-stakes testing that it has added unreasonable pressures and expectations on schools.

If schools don’t meet standards, they can face tough sanctions that can include the removal of the principal and staff. In some states, including Georgia, teachers and administrators can earn bonuses if enough students at their schools pass standardized tests.

The extreme emphasis on standardized test scores has created an environment ripe for problems. In the wake of the Georgia investigation, teachers in Atlanta have complained about the ways school administrators were pushing teachers to make goals. Some teachers say there was pressure to cheat and said that those who didn’t go along were threatened with disciplinary action.

The result is that the test numbers looked good but they weren’t reflected in the classroom.

Julie Rogers-Martin, an elementary school teacher in Atlanta, told CNN that she noticed a difference between the test scores of students and their ability in class a few years ago. For example, she recommended one student for special education classes but found that he had “exceeded expectations” on his test.

She said she talked to her principal about seeing the disparity and was told some students must have been “great guessers.” The principal has since been implicated by the investigative report as being part of the cheating.

There can be no room for cheating in education, and the actions alleged in Atlanta are reprehensible. This has to be stopped.

At the same time, the situation in Atlanta demonstrates the larger problem with the nation’s education policy, which has failed because it is unreasonable and overly emphasizes standardized tests.

The nation does need high standards, and teachers do need to be held accountable, but there has to be a better way to measure students’ academic progress. The emphasis in schools has turned from educating to testing, and that needs to change. There’s more to education than using a No. 2 pencil to fill in bubbles.