Protections against institutional cheating in NYC schools
Spurred by reports of widespread cheating on standardized tests inAtlanta; Washington, DC; Los Angeles; Pennsylvania; and elsewhere, New York State Education Commissioner John King announced last week the creation of a “high level working group” to address "the integrity of our testing system.” The Bloomberg administration responded that this was "a knee-jerk reaction to cheating scandals in other states."Unfortunately, the announcement was marred by the state’s failure to reveal who was appointed to this task force. As the NY Post noted,
“Oddly, the announcement came two weeks after the formation of the group, and department officials couldn't say who or how many people were on it other than Executive Deputy Commissioner Valerie Grey."Indeed, there is a crying need for more systematic protections against cheating, which were eliminated when