In Pennsylvania, Suspicious Erasing on State Exams at 89 Schools
In April, Dale Mezzacappa attended a panel discussion on cheating sponsored by the Education Writers Association. At the time, she was one of three staff reporters for The Notebook, a community newspaper and Web site that covers the Philadelphia public schools. Full Story »
Posted by Kristin Gorski - via New York Times (Most Emailed), Memeorandum, Ish Harshawat (t), Ray Nichols (t), David Fox (t), Jeremy Caplan (t), Wil Kristin (t), David K. Miller (t)
The focus on high-stakes testing seems to have thrown districts into crisis mode, resulting in desperate acts. If scores aren't shown to improve, then districts lose funds. If the districts lose funds, they have to make budget cuts which will ultimately make it harder to provide a quality education to students. It is an impossible situation. Once again, it is shown that receiving a high test score doesn't mean that a student has mastered important skills that will prepare them for life. We have to maintain focus on how an education is supposed to prepare people for being empowered in their own lives and community and being able to contribute to society; this makes us all stronger.