Cheating APs and The Teachers They Love And Support

Another regents week rolls around and once again the AP is assigning proctors who are too afraid of her to proctor honestly.  They know their jobs depend upon her good will and her good will only comes to those who do her bidding.

These newbies are scared.  They still can't believe they got jobs right out of college and landed in a good, safe school with easy parking and good public transportation.  They've heard horror stories from classmates not as fortunate.  They've never had real administrators who know how to teach and how to recognize good teachers.  They've only worked for the one who is schooling them in the art of cheating.  A part of them thinks that maybe the AP is right and this is the way things are done but a bigger part knows it is wrong and will do it anyway.  They want to stay right where they are for the rest of their careers.

I feel for these poor newbies.  They will get caught.  They will all lose their jobs.  Their AP will deny all knowledge of their cheating and will use them to save herself.  She has always done this and always will.  Her boss knows and protects her too.  The good stats will benefit him as well.

When Exams Are Administered Honestly

What happens when the school is being watched and the AP cannot assign proctors who will give out answers while reading exams?  What happens when the marking is done on a honest system?  Students get the grade they earned. Many fail. In fact, almost none pass. The poor AP will not do well on annual progress reports and might actually be held accountable for the immorality of the past.

One can only hope.  Too bad the real losers in all of this are the students.  They've always been given the answers so passing was guaranteed.  I hope the shock was not too much for their systems.

To Hell With Students



Judy was a really good teacher when it came to middle level and lower level classes, but her skills weren't so great when it came to teaching the top.  She knew it and her AP knew it.  So it came as a shock when she got a program with an Advanced Placement class.  Judy had filed (and won) a grievance because her program reflected nothing she asked for and only had bottom classes.  Her AP decided to punish her by giving her a balanced program including the class he knew she would not be able to do a very good job of teaching.  He was more than willing to sacrifice the students to make her suffer.  Luckily for these kids, he was convinced not to do this before the change took place.

Michael has a proven track record when it comes to teaching reading to special education students.  He loves what he does with them and they, in turn love him and succeed in his class.  Michael does not like to teach math.  Michael's AP wants Michael out and since he is good, the only way this can happen is if Michael voluntarily leaves.  And, this can only happen by making Michael as miserable as possible.  The AP does not care about the kids being hurt along the way.  The AP hired a couple of recent grads to teach reading.  She figures these kids aren't much of anything and she can always get someone to help them on their standardized tests so they will pass and still make her look good.  She knows Michael will do a good job teaching the subject he hates because Michael cares about kids.

Ah, the wave of the future.  Make the teachers you can't U -rate miserable so they will leave on their own.  Screw the kids.  Cheating gets them through regardless of what they have been taught.

Better Stock Up On Ambien

 



Message to the proctors who have been giving their students answers during recent regents exams:

Sleep now.  You won't be doing much of that when OSI comes creeping around investigating these miracle grades.  Don't expect any protection from the administrator who forced suggested you do this. This administrator will self protect.  The bonus and the job protection are the APs only concern.

(This is going on in more schools than anyone would ever imagine.  So, if you see your school here, if you live in  Brooklyn or Buffalo, know you are not alone.  And, change the word regents to state exam and it could be anywhere in the country.)

Miracle Worker



It is regents week and the AP has all her obedient little teachers in the rooms giving out answers proctoring.  Since she took the job, this department's statistics have made a remarkable improvement. Kids who only 4 years ago could barely read and do arithmetic are now getting regents diplomas and going on to college.  She is a real miracle worker.

I feel for these kids.  In college no one proctors exams this way.  There is no coaching through exams.  Too bad diplomas can't be recalled like defective cars.  An extra screw won't fix the problem these kids have.  Their education has prepared them for the junk yard.

On the bright side, the AP is doing her part to keep the school's A rating.  I hope everyone involved feels real proud of themselves.  It is funny how things change.  The people committing these atrocities came into teaching because they "liked" children.

Unfair Advantage Or Just Plain Old Cheating

Is it considered cheating if a teacher goes into the room a regents is being given in and translates the exam for the students in the room?  Does translating mean explaining the questions?

Is it wrong for the AP to laud it over everyone else how the students in the rooms with translators did so much better than the students in the room without translators?

Or is this fine?  Does not knowing the Martian word for say, "isometry" mean that the translator can explain that word while the the students are taking an exam?  Weren't these kids taught the word "isometry" and then given the Martian translation?  How about the English speaking kids who didn't know what an isometry was? Shouldn't this have been explained to them to?  (How many readers had to click on the word to see what it meant?)

If this isn't cheating, shouldn't all students be given the same advantage?  Even English speaking kids might need a translator for certain words.  And, if it is cheating, it should be stopped.

Taking The Fall

Ricochet's post about the Georgia test scandal and the teachers being blamed reminded me of an incident I heard about last year. Tests were graded but too many students failed.  The supervisor, a young ambitious person new to the job was worried the abysmal scores would cost him/her the cushy assignment.

No one knows what really happened, but on Friday, too many  failed.  By Monday, the passing rates had gone up remarkably.  The teachers who signed off on marking had nothing to do with this change.  If anyone checked, they would be responsible.  Their names were the only ones on the papers.

Remedial Student

When my kids were little I brought them to work with me when their school or day care was closed.

My little second grader was spending an afternoon with me as I was giving an exam to a remedial class. To keep him busy, I told him to do the exam along with the class.

My little boy took the exam very seriously. He sat on the side and worked hard. As he noticed one of my students trying to cheat off of him, he threw his arm over the paper and worked harder.

To this day, we still laugh at the high school kid copying answers from the second grader. Only now, in the era of NCLB, the high school kid who had to copy off the second grader would be graduating high school and heading on to college.

The Messages They Are Getting

These cartoons are so real, they hurt.
Non Sequitur 5/15/09

The Comics Are Relevant This Week--Goal Setting

Non Sequitur 5/13/09

Cheaters Never Prosper

Sometimes you just have to let kids cheat! I watched a kid erase a perfectly correct solution and replace it with his friend's totally wrong one. I separated them, but then let the test stand. I'll get my revenge when I return the papers.

Not Handled Well

A few months ago I posted a story about two of my students who were accused of cheating on the math regents.. I've come to believe that the boy involved really was cheating but I am still having trouble dealing withe the way the whole thing was handled.

To begin with, the kids parents were never called. The kids themselves were never even told what they were accused of and they were never given a chance to try to prove themselves innocent. But, this is all old stuff that I have written about.

The girl involved got to take the regents in June. She found it easy and I am sure she did well on it. The boy was not allowed to take the exam.

The boy did not understand why he failed the class and why he was not allowed to retake the regents as the girl was. He is learning diaabled and will be placed in special education classes in September. He sent me an e-mail questioning his failing grade. I could only repeat what I had been told in June. His parents are fairly new immigrants to this country and his dad might have some learning disabilities also. They do not have the ability to question the failing grade and the disqualified regents.

If we are truly here to teach these kids, we should want this boy to learn from his mistake. Clearly, it was not handled in a way that would teach. And, since he doesn't understand his crime, there is nothing to prevent him from repeating it in the future.