Testing Can Make Teachers Cheat

Like everyone else who follows the world of public education, I was disgusted and saddened at the report issued by the office of Georgia Governor Nathan Deal this past Tuesday.  The report, which is the work of investigations by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation which was itself originally prompted by reports from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, revealed massive amounts of systemic cheating on standardized tests in the Atlanta Public Schools system.  It is disgusting and saddening - but not surprising.

I am not surprised because for teachers and principals, the pressure to perform on standardized tests is enormous.  Of course the students are the ones taking the test, but ultimately it is their teachers, principals and other administrators all the way up to the superintendent who will be judged by the outcome of these tests.  Failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress, the dreaded AYP laid out in the No Child Left Behind Act, puts a school at grave risk for state takeover.  School districts are obsessed with creating consistently positive outcomes on state-based standardized tests.

Standardized tests seem like a good way to measure achievement, and in many respects they are effective, but they are also far too easy to manipulate. My own experience as a teacher in the state of Alabama has seen both positive and negative with regard to standardized testing.  While my school still has much ground to cover, we have made modest gains the last few years, and I have never seen the slightest hint of cheating or other unethical behavior.  Unfortunately, many of our high school students fail multiple portions of our state graduation test and only pass upon subsequent retakes.  As teachers we are forced to focus so much attention on these tests that higher order tests like the ACT, the SAT and other important college preparatory materials are subsequently de-emphasized.

Anyone who is truly concerned about the state of public education understands that there must be some objective means of determining student achievement.  But what we want and what we have are very different things - and the wrong approach only harms students and disillusions an already distrustful public.