Cheating, the Wave of the Future for Education

Atlanta schools have been in the midst of a teaching scandal.  Atlanta teachers have been accused of changing answers, and giving answers to students while taking standardized tests.  Additionally, administrators were part of cover-ups as well as punishing those who tried to blow the whistle.  178 teachers and principals have been accused with 82 of them having confessed.

The problem as I see it is that nothing that I have read speaks to the problems that pushed these educators to resort to these measures.  Recently, Michigan passed legislation that makes ‘tenure’ and ‘seniority’ ineffectual.  Transfers and lay-offs are no longer based on seniority; they will be based upon ‘effectiveness’ of the teacher.  Unfortunately teacher evaluations are inherently unfair. Aside from the always neglected issue of principal incompetence, there are real issues of favoritism, nepotism, and methodology of evaluation.

EVALUATION

For example, a new young teacher comes into a school eager to please and willing to do whatever it takes to make a good impression.  She lives at home and has bought a new professional wardrobe with mommy and daddy’s credit card.  Meanwhile, Mrs. Veteran teacher has put on several pounds while raising her three children and hasn’t been able to afford a new outfit in quite some time.

When classes are organized, the newbie is spared the problem students and the kids with behavior and learning issues are placed in the Mrs. Veteran’s classroom, because she can handle them.  Miss Newbie is able do more projects and have a looser class and all the kids and parents love her. Mrs. Veteran needs to run a tight ship in order to maintain order in her classroom. Some of the trouble makers don’t much care for Mrs. Veteran or her rules, especially since they don’t have many rules at home they are expected to follow.

At the end of the year we find that, surprise, surprise, the class that has children with stable homes and professional parents scored much better than the class that has kids with more challenging obstacles before them.  When lay-offs come around, it becomes more appealing to get rid of the veteran teacher with the poor test scores and the high salary, and keep the cute twenty-something in the tight skirt.

NEPOTISM

My district sends out mass emails to inform us when a fellow teacher or family member has passed away or has become seriously ill.  It announces that ________ recently passed away who was the father of _________ teacher and the uncle of ___________teacher and husband to _____ teacher.  It is remarkable how many people get hired into my district that just happen to be related to someone.  From what I understand, my vice-principal is related to a teacher across the hall from me.  I assume her evaluation from her vice-principal ‘cousin’ was a positive one this year….and will be in the future as well.

WHAT IS TO COME?

I firmly believe that the Atlanta situation is a look into the future.  Education has turned seriously competitive, where your livelihood is based upon how well you rate compared to the teacher across the hall.  Principals want two things and two things ONLY.  Good scores and happy parents.  It will be easier for a teacher to cheat and create the illusion of success rather than teaching a new language to an immigrant, fixing neglect, solving poverty, or fighting a generational disregard for Education.  It will be much easier to fudge the numbers, change a few answers, give a few hints, and keep parents and principals happy and thus stay off the unemployment line.

Some will say that every field demands results.  I agree, and I also agree that teachers need to be held accountable.  But I think we would also agree that no one should be given a little league team and be expected to win a World Series, and that I should not have to race my Escort against the other guys Ferrari.  I fear that for many teachers this coming year, the deck will be stacked against them, and just as the teachers must have felt in Atlanta, the temptation will be to pull an ace out from under a sleeve or two.

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