"Horvath" wrote in message
...
Schoolhouse crock
Probe: Teach couldn't pass N.Y. exam so paid man $2 to take it
[snip]

You think that's funny? Bush's entire NCLB claim to fame was success with
Texas schools ~ Bwahahahahahahahahahahahaaaa!

Newspaper Finds Evidence of Cheating by Texas Schools
Albuquerque Journal 3/21/05
The Associated Press
DALLAS - Dozens of Texas schools appear to have cheated on the
state's redesigned academic achievement test, casting doubt on whether the
state's accountability system can reliably measure how schools are
performing, a newspaper investigation found.
The Dallas Morning News' data analysis uncovered strong evidence that
organized, educator-led cheating on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and
Skills took place at schools in Houston and Dallas. The newspaper also found
suspicious scores in hundreds more schools.
State officials typically focus on passing rates, or the number of
students who met state standards. The newspaper examined scale scores, a
more specific measure based on how many questions were answered correctly.
The scores reveal which schools are acing the test and which are squeaking
by.
The newspaper analyzed scores from 7,700 Texas schools, searching for
ones with unusual gaps in performance between grades or subjects. Research
has shown that schools that are weak in one subject or grade are typically
weak in others.
More than 200 schools had large, unexplained score gaps between grades
or between the TAKS and other standardized tests, such as the Stanford
Achievement Test.
For example, the fourth-graders at Sanderson Elementary School in the
Houston Independent School District scored extremely poorly on the math TAKS
test this year. Their average scale score was so low that it placed
Sanderson in the bottom 2 percent of the state.
But the school's fifth-graders ended up with the highest scale scores on
the math TAKS of any school in Texas, beating every magnet school, every
high performing school and every wealthy suburban school in the state. More
than 90 percent of the students got perfect or near-perfect scores.
No school even came close to that performance. In scale-score points,
the distance between Sanderson and the second-best school was as large as
the gap between No. 2 and No. 116.
Arizona State University Professor Tom Haladyna likened that improbable
year-to-year improvement to a weekend softball player hitting 80 home runs
in the major leagues.
"If you see big swings in those numbers, I think we should raise our
eyebrows and say this is very, very unusual," he said.
In a written statement, Houston Superintendent Abe Saavedra said he has
asked the Texas Education Agency to investigate the scores at Sanderson,
which the U.S. Education Department named a Blue Ribbon School in 2003
because of rapid improvements in test results.
"At HISD, our credibility and integrity must remain absolutely beyond
question," he said.
Similar results were found at Harrell Budd Elementary in the Dallas
Independent School District.
In the third grade, Budd's students finished in the bottom 4 percent in
reading. But Budd's fourth-graders had the second-highest reading scores in
the state, beating schools in Plano, Highland Park and every other wealthy
district. The only school that finished ahead of them was a Houston magnet
school for gifted children.
District spokesman Donald Claxton said officials there plan to conduct a
thorough investigation.
"If there's cheating going on, we want to stop it," he said.
The cheating allegations raise questions about the Texas accountability
system and the federal No Child Left Behind law. Both attempt to measure the
quality of public schools and punish those that don't meet standards.
Jim Impara, a former state assessment director in Florida and Oregon,
said he believes those high-stakes systems are changing the culture of
education.
"When you have a system where test scores have real impact on teachers'
lives, you're more likely to see teachers willing to cheat," he said.