Cheating on state tests at George Washington Elementary

Join Teachers.Net

Chatboards

Recent Groups

MD Teachers

MEMBERS

3 Members

+ Join Group

Pinned Posts

ALLAll Teachers

Teachers.Net LIVE CHAT Support group - Tues eve!

Featured Jobs

Full-timeMontessori Teacher

Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada

TemporaryTeachers, rural schools

Peace River North School District

Full-timeHead Teacher: 2nd/3rd Grades – Mills College Children’s School

Mills College

Teaching Jobs on Teachers.Net

Featured Job special only $39!

https://teachers.net/jobs

Become a Teachers.Net sponsor!

Maryland Teachers Chatboard

Cheating on state tests at George Washington Elementary

by ....School in Baltimore

May 27, 2010

Anybody hear about this? Interesting story behind this on this board, too.

Comment

(2)

report post

....School in Baltimore Anybody remember this elementary school being mentioned on this board? I do.

There is a certain charter school principal who posts on this board who made claims of high academic achievement at her school that has a minority demographic. Someone proved that was a lie. Someone else said that if that were true, then her school would be world...See MoreAnybody remember this elementary school being mentioned on this board? I do.

There is a certain charter school principal who posts on this board who made claims of high academic achievement at her school that has a minority demographic. Someone proved that was a lie. Someone else said that if that were true, then her school would be world famous because there is no school with that demographic (that doesn't preselect only high achieving students) that has test scores that are comparable to those of white schools.

Then someone else said, Oh, yes, there is an example of a school with that demographic in the United States that has high test scores. It is...George Washington Elementary in Baltimore, Maryland, a blue ribbon school with tests scores better than high achieving white schools in the area. It is hard to argue with that, right? I very specifically remember this whole thread because it was so shocking and funny that one of the pet's on this board was shown to be such a liar.

Well, the breaking news out of Baltimore today...the great test scores at George Washington Elementary were a result of massive cheating. The cheating was proven for the school year 2007-2008. It was across all grade levels. Thousands of answers were erased with 90% of changes from wrong to right. The same students tests from other years did not have similar numbers of erasures. For 2009, the state sent in monitors and immediately took possession of the tests after completion rather than allowing them to remain at the school in a locked room for a week. The result: the spring 2009 test scores plummeted by 25% over the previous year.

Teachers at the school said they new something was amiss because they had some students do very well on the state test that they knew couldn't have. As a teacher, you usually know the ability level of your students. One or two can surprise you, but when many of them are outperforming what you have normally seen of them, you kind of have to wonder. It was a parent who blew the whistle to the state about rumors circulating at the school about cheating on the state tests.

Investigators are fairly sure of this cheating having occurred for several years but can't prove it because the older year's tests were destroyed. So they are going to allow the school to retain the Blue Ribbon status. What a joke.

The principal has been fired and her state teaching license has been revoked as a result.

HOW DO YA LIKE THEM APPLES

May 27, 2010

report post

ms.j from jersey while I agree that this school is a disgrace....i must say that you sound a bit sadistic and perhaps enjoying the "proof" that a black school could not out perform a white school....i hope u don't teach any of my black chilldren cause I hate to see teachers with such low expectations of the children they teach based on race....the reason why white ...See More

May 30, 2010

report post