Did D.C. schools cheat? Ask the students.
by Jay Mathews
Did D.C. schools cheat? Ask the students.
By Jay Mathews
Dear D.C. parents and grandparents: Want to uncover the truth behind the D.C. schools’ test-tampering allegations? Ask your student if he or she ever made erasures on the annual D.C. tests, and let me know the answer.
Five years ago, analysts found statistically improbable numbers of wrong-to-right erasures on D.C. test answer sheets. Several investigations have failed to determine the cause. But those investigators never asked students with many changes on their answer sheets what they remembered doing.
Did they really make as many as 10 wrong-to-right erasures each? D.C. data shows the average student rarely makes more than one or two. What led students to make so many mistakes and then switch to the right answers?
This year — finally — investigators from the Alvarez & Marsal consulting firm, hired by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), tried to find out. They spoke to 16 students at Meridian Public
