Complaints of tampering with state Regents exams have ballooned since Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took control of New York City�s schools, newly released data show, placing in stark relief the conflict between allowing teachers to grade their own students� tests and raising the stakes on the results.
As the city and state turned test scores into make-or-break indicators of school and student success, the portion of city public high schools facing allegations of test tampering rose to 7 percent in the 2009-10 school year, from 1 percent in 2002-3. Over all, the state has recorded complaints of cheating by educators in more than 100 city high schools, about a fifth of the total, since Mr. Bloomberg took office in 2002. During the same period, the number of complaints in the rest of the state�s high schools tripled.
While it is unclear how many of the allegations were ultimately proven, the steep rise in complaints itself is notable at a time when cheating scandals have engulfed other districts and state officials are acknowledging a failure to adequately detect and prevent cheating.
The previously undisclosed database containing the allegations, a 62-page printout of which was obtained by The New York Times in October, provides a window onto the ways that high-stakes testing is roiling school communities, with principals accusing teachers, teachers accusing principals, and teachers accusing other teachers.
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Plenty of yeshivahs are involved with this type of thing – my only surprise is how the teachers who are taking the tests for the kids are actually passing – didnt think they were capable! Even in a school where my husband taught he was asked to “find more points” for students who failed.