Opinion
School & District Management Letter to the Editor

Cheaters Are Villains, But There Are Heroes, Too

May 07, 2013 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

Physicians who murder, police officers who steal, and educators who cheat—these are all heinous crimes. There are no excuses. Period. But why has teacher cheating erupted only in this last decade (“It’s Not the Test That Made Them Cheat,” April 17, 2013)?

Consider a parallel profession: a hypothetical hospital where competent doctors and nurses treat unique patients with unique problems. They make their own professional decisions. One surgeon is particularly good and is given the most severe cases—and has the lowest survival rates.

However, a governing body imposes “accountability” and demands that all patients will survive. New “outcome based” criteria narrow to just a few tests: a normal temperature and “happiness.” Failure will result in firing staff and closing the hospital.

For many schools, this is not a hypothetical. A superb teacher in a high-poverty district will have lower student scores. The best of doctors lose patients, and the best of teachers lose students, and for much the same reasons: The patient doesn’t take his medicine, and the student doesn’t do his homework.

External testing narrows and distorts the curriculum. Student cooperation to raise scores is coerced. And students learn a bigger lesson: The end justifies any means.

So how is a teacher—who wants to preserve some small fragment of academic integrity, who wants to teach the whole student about more than test-taking, who wants to remain a professional—able to survive this test tyranny?

Not by cheating—that maintains the legitimacy of external testing.

The answer is outright resistance. The Seattle teachers who would not give the Measures of Academic Progress test. Teachers and administrators who refuse to reduce their profession to raising test scores. Universities that refuse to train teachers in test prep. Legislators who understand that they cannot dictate professionalism.

If teachers who changed students’ test scores are the villains, then educators who refuse to substitute external examinations for an education are the heroes.

John Richard Schrock

Professor of Biology

Director of Biology Education

Emporia State University

Emporia, Kan.

A version of this article appeared in the May 08, 2013 edition of Education Week as Cheaters Are Villains, But There Are Heroes, Too

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
The Future of the Science of Reading
Join us for a discussion on the future of the Science of Reading and how to support every student’s path to literacy.
Content provided by HMH
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
From Classrooms to Careers: How Schools and Districts Can Prepare Students for a Changing Workforce
Real careers start in school. Learn how Alton High built student-centered, job-aligned pathways.
Content provided by TNTP
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management How One Principal Got Kids to Pay Attention in Class
Utah principal Shauna Haney brought about one of the first classroom cellphone bans in the state.
2 min read
Cellphone wearing a sleep mask. Cellphone policy.
Irina Shatilova/iStock
School & District Management Celebrate Five Years of The Savvy Principal—A Newsletter Just for School Leaders
The Savvy Principal is full of news, insights, and actionable tips on school leadership.
1 min read
Close cropped photo of a laptop, planner and phone with ear phones attached to it. The phone is displaying an edition of Education Week's The Savvy Principal enewsletter.
Liz Yap/Education Week + Adobe Stock
School & District Management Worried About Withheld Education Funding? Here's How Leaders Can Speak Up
Education leaders must communicate the consequences of withheld K-12 funding to Congress and their own communities.
6 min read
Superintendents Dr. Alex Marrero, Alberto Carvalho, and Joe Gothard
Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero, left, Madison Superintendent Joe Gothard, and Los Angeles Superintendent Alberto Carvalho are among district leaders who've pushed for the release of withheld federal K-12 funding. The three have also sought to explain the consequences to their own communities.
David Zalubowski/AP, Andy Clayton-King/AP, Anthony Behar/AP
School & District Management Women, People of Color Still Underrepresented in Superintendent Ranks
Superintendents are getting younger, earning slightly more, and working longer hours, yet their pay still lags behind inflation, AASA found.
4 min read
Illustration of a Black woman professional carrying a briefcase and dressed in red and walking alongside an oversized male dressed in blue pants with his white hand also carrying a briefcase.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty