http://www.thenotebook.org/blog/113913/confession-cheating-teacher
Published on Philadelphia Public School Notebook (http://www.thenotebook.org) Home > Blogs > Benjamin Herold's blog > Confession of a cheating teacher Confession of a cheating teacher
by on Jul 28 2011
by Benjamin Herold for the Notebook/NewsWorks
She said she knows she's a good teacher.
But she still helped her students cheat.
"What I did was wrong, but I don’t feel guilty about it,” said a veteran Philadelphia English teacher who shared her story with the Notebook/NewsWorks.
During a series of recent interviews, the teacher said she regularly provided prohibited assistance on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) exams to 11th graders at a city neighborhood high school. At various times, she said, she gave the students definitions for unfamiliar words, discussed with students reading passages they didn’t understand, and commented on their writing samples.
On a few occasions, she said, she even pointed them to the correct answers on difficult questions.
“They’d have a hard time, and I’d break it down for them,” said the teacher matter-of-factly.
Such actions are possible grounds for termination. As a result, the Notebook/NewsWorks agreed to protect her identity.
The teacher came forward following the recent publication of a 2009 report that identified dozens of schools across Pennsylvania and Philadelphia that had statistically suspicious test results. Though her school was not among those flagged, she claims that adult cheating there was “rampant.”
The Notebook/NewsWorks is also withholding the name of her former school. because the details of her account have been only partially corroborated.
But her story seems worth telling.
During multiple conversations with the Notebook/NewsWorks, both on the phone and in person, the teacher provided a detailed, consistent account of her own actions to abet cheating. Her compelling personal testimonial highlighted frequently shared concerns about the conditions that high-stakes testing have created in urban public schools. The Notebook and NewsWorks believe that her confession sheds important light on the recent spate of cheating scandals across the country.
In the last two years alone, 22 states and the District of Columbia have had confirmed cases of cheating, according to Robert Schaeffer, Public Education Director of FairTest, a nonprofit critical of the “misuses and flaws” associated with standardized tests.
Almost always, says Schaeffer, those involved say they broke the rules because they felt pressured to generate unrealistic test score gains and avoid sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
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