A Trifecta Of Sins
by John Merrow
A comprehensive report in late March by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution provides strong evidence that adults in as many as 200 school systems have been cheating on their students’ standardized tests.
We looked at this for NewsHour in 2011:
Because I spent three years chronicling the tenure of Michelle Rhee in Washington, DC – another city with a spate of thus-far-unexplained ‘wrong to right’ erasures on standardized tests — I am interested in this story. I’d like to know if anyone cheated in the DC schools. If so, who and why?
But a teacher I correspond with occasionally brought me up short recently. My focus on actual, literalcheating — physically changing answers or giving kids answers in advance — is too narrow, this teacher wrote.
Here’s part of a recent letter:
“While I know that the cheating scandals may be considered important, I’m frankly a bit disappointed
