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Teachers Caught Cheating

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Mike

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Almost 200 teachers in Atlanta were caught changing student grades to make the teacher's themselves look like better teachers.

Almost forgot, guess the color.

District attorneys weigh indictments in APS cheating case (Atlanta Public Schools)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution | July 9, 2011 | Bill Rankin



The Atlanta schools cheating case is now in the hands of three local district attorneys, who must decide whether the scandal is also criminal.

District attorneys in Fulton, DeKalb and Douglas counties said they are reviewing the voluminous report by state investigators and will decide whether to seek indictments.

Douglas County DA David McDade said Friday he expects it will take prosecutors a considerable amount of time to reach decisions. He noted that the GBI's investigative file in the case amasses 120 volumes.

As prosecutors consider their options, scores of current and former APS educators and administrators, some at the highest levels of the system, are left wondering whether police officers will knock on their doors.

"I'm sure there are a lot of people who have great concern right now," said Ron Carlson, a University of Georgia criminal law professor. "Some of the allegations in this report are gravely serious."

Among the potential charges: giving false statements to investigators or altering public documents, which are felonies with penalties of up to 10 years in prison. School officials who submitted test scores they knew to be false also face possible felony charges and up to five years in prison.

Anyone who destroyed documents or instructed subordinates not to cooperate could be charged with obstruction of justice, a misdemeanor.

The report says 178 educators, including 38 principals, participated in cheating on standardized tests. It also accuses top administrators of destroying or altering complaints about misconduct and trying to hinder the investigation.
 
What kind of people are going through to be teachers now days?

The teachers in Michigan are caught by TV cameras claiming to be out of school because they are sick and when pushed by their boards to prove it they get caught on those same cameras getting fake sick notes from doctors they have never seen before they met them on the street corner.

Now we have teachers changing test scores to make themselves look better.

No wonder these people want to belong to a union. If it wasn't for their union protecting their lieing cheating butts they would be out of a job in two seconds flat. :roll:
 
What kind of people are going through to be teachers now days?

Guess you didn't get my drift on the "guess the color" comment. :wink:

Several predominately black colleges down here are nothing but "Diploma Mills".

Oh, and they don't call themselves "Teachers", they "aks" & demand to be called "Educators", also fought tooth and nail against the 8th grade equivalent test required to become a teacher here. :mad:
 
The report says 178 educators, including 38 principals, participated in cheating on standardized tests. It also accuses top administrators of destroying or altering complaints about misconduct and trying to hinder the investigation.

firing them will still be tough,... unless the opt to prosecute them.

with out the criminal charges I doubt little will be done to solve the problem..

at the Post Office it was nearly impossible to fire an incompetent lazy good for nothing employee.. but over the years I saw a few dozen resign to avoid criminal charges.. and only knew of one of them getting his job back..

Douglas County DA David McDade said Friday he expects it will take prosecutors a considerable amount of time to reach decisions. He noted that the GBI's investigative file in the case amasses 120 volumes.

is that a nice way to say.. they ain't gonna do anything.. but wait until this is forgot about?
 
What a shame and a black mark on the profession. I don't know about these states, but in SD, when you crack the wrapper on the national tests our students take, you must sign your name to a form saying that you will not look through the test, will not help students on the test other than to read the directions to them again if need be, and you will not alter student answers/answer sheets---to do so results in federal prosecution and loss of federal funding for your school/district. For our state tests, you lose your license for fraudulent alteration/reporting and state funding is in jeopardy. My guess is that if they would just look at the tests and state's testing protocol, the answer to how to deal with these teachers lies within. I'm not real sure that any of the teachers' unions would touch this one---public opinion is low and they do not need their names associated with standardized testing alterations, but I would not bet my salary on that. One question, Mike, and maybe you do not know this, but I will ask anyway: Are these states "Merit Pay" states?
 
Mike said:
Are these states "Merit Pay" states?

I don't think the pay is linked to performance, but their job stability until they become tenured is.
I wasn't implying that merit pay would be the cause, just trying to understand the freaks' incentive for doing such a thing. I am against merit pay, though, because I believe I do the best job I can because it is a reflection of who I am as a person, not because it reflects how much I can make. I do not think we need teachers whose only reason for teaching is greed---majority of teachers I have worked with could make more money elsewhere---we all enjoy seeing that lightbulb turn on!!
And I see in the article that there are administrators involved, too. The ones who have the ability to show teachers that tenure means nothing, other than not being dismissed without cause (and I'd say this is an excellent cause), are not leading by example. Crap like this always makes me question what kind of person one would have to be to be so deceptive...same as teachers who prey on the kids they teach. And like you, I get the feeling nothing will happen, but there will be more hoops to jump through in the coming years, and those who can't jump to begin with and cheat,will still find a way to cheat the new hoops. And yes, we have some hint of this going on in all fifty states because there is not a test given that can predict who the cheaters/creeps/owners of low moral character are going to be---sad :(
 
One thing that has been a thorn in the side of Georgia high school teachers for sometime is the "Hope" scholarship program that is partially funded by the lottery.

Basically, every student that has a 3.0 average gets a scholarship to a Georgia college.

The pressure to give a 3.0 average to a student that really has a 2.9 is probably immense.

Problem is, there is a high number of 1st year dropouts that cost the program money for other students. The dropout rate is way above normal, and I wonder how many kids really had that 3.0 average.

Especially with the light shining on this cheating scandal.

http://www.gacollege411.org/Financial_Aid_Planning/HOPE_Program/Georgia_s_HOPE_Scholarship_Program_Overview.aspx
 
Twister Frost said:
Mike said:
Are these states "Merit Pay" states?

I don't think the pay is linked to performance, but their job stability until they become tenured is.
I wasn't implying that merit pay would be the cause, just trying to understand the freaks' incentive for doing such a thing. I am against merit pay, though, because I believe I do the best job I can because it is a reflection of who I am as a person, not because it reflects how much I can make. I do not think we need teachers whose only reason for teaching is greed---majority of teachers I have worked with could make more money elsewhere---we all enjoy seeing that lightbulb turn on!!
And I see in the article that there are administrators involved, too. The ones who have the ability to show teachers that tenure means nothing, other than not being dismissed without cause (and I'd say this is an excellent cause), are not leading by example. Crap like this always makes me question what kind of person one would have to be to be so deceptive...same as teachers who prey on the kids they teach. And like you, I get the feeling nothing will happen, but there will be more hoops to jump through in the coming years, and those who can't jump to begin with and cheat,will still find a way to cheat the new hoops. And yes, we have some hint of this going on in all fifty states because there is not a test given that can predict who the cheaters/creeps/owners of low moral character are going to be---sad :(


Well, we know that "merit pay" helped encourage Franklin Raines to cook the books at Fannie Mae so he could take more money home.

The same is true on a lot of corporate scandals.

I have a friend who worked in management at GM, I think, and he told me that the union and GM made a deal over "merit" pay for the union workers. GM convinced the union that since their financial division wasn't really autoworkers that they should not be able to participate in the the profit sharing arrangement that management and the union agreed on. The union went along with it. Then GM put shoveled their profits over to their financial division so they wouldn't have to profit share with the unions.

Of course the management got "merit pay" bonuses for making the largest shareholders happy for getting more of their dwindling pie (this made the unions more upset at the company so they had no incentive to work hard-- they had been cheated out of their incentives.

This is the kind of greed that can and has ruined our country.

Tex
 
You might want to make a new thread instead of trying to highjack this one about teachers and change it into how great and non-greedy unions are. Maybe even come up with something close to topic, like talking about teachers unions.
 
okfarmer said:
You might want to make a new thread instead of trying to highjack this one about teachers and change it into how great and non-greedy unions are. Maybe even come up with something close to topic, like talking about teachers unions.
:wink: :lol:
 
Changing the subject is what liberals do best.
Somehow I feel that those teachers could have cared less they were doing something illegal when they opened the test, :cry:

But that is ok because GM done it!! Look at what it done for GM :roll: :roll: :roll:

Twister, I am sure you and 90% of all teachers try to do their absolute best to teach given the guidelines some administrators force upon them, These teachers should be run out of town!!!!!
Is it any wonder this generation is going to hell in a handbucket :mad:
 
okfarmer said:
You might want to make a new thread instead of trying to highjack this one about teachers and change it into how great and non-greedy unions are. Maybe even come up with something close to topic, like talking about teachers unions.

Whoa, there, dude. I come from a family of teachers and what was done here was inexcusable.

I wasn't hijacking the thread, just adding that greed seems to trump morals in our country today and I gave real examples. If anything, I was not hijacking the thread, but adding to it.

The problem isn't greed. It is that greed trumps morals. It should be the other way around but because it isn't, our nation is not what it should be.

It isn't liberal or conservative, right or left, but instead it is right or wrong.

I am sorry you are so ideological that you can't see the bigger picture that all this fits into.

Some unions are bad, some are good. Same with management in companies. The more unions or businesses allow greed or self interest to win over morality, the more our whole society loses.

It is especially bad from teachers because then this lesson gets taught to the new generation.

Your ideological preconceived prejudices are trumped when morality takes a second seat to greed and self interest. It ruins a society. It isn't just in unions or just in businesses, but in all of the every day decisions that people make and live by. It all adds up to a big summation equation.

okfarmer, I don't ask your permission on how to think or whether or not to respond to a thread the way you think I should. I never liked hall monitors. Your wife must have her hands full. Yes, mine does too.

Tex
 
The Superintendent of Atlanta Schools. She resigned last week.





http://www.atlanta.k12.ga.us/1861101118113928800/cwp/view.asp?A=3&Q=288459&C=55402
 
Tex, how does greed tie in with a large group of teachers changing the test grades of his/her students?

I think we established the fact that test grades do not raise teacher income levels.
 
Mike said:
Tex, how does greed tie in with a large group of teachers changing the test grades of his/her students?

I think we established the fact that test grades do not raise teacher income levels.

Tex is still trying to tie GM into the teachers, after all his BUDDY told him about MERIT :roll: :roll: :roll:

Kinda reminds me of some one else. You know the one, Knew someone who heard someone that slept with someone. All in high places :wink: :wink: :wink:
 
Mike said:
Tex, how does greed tie in with a large group of teachers changing the test grades of his/her students?

I think we established the fact that test grades do not raise teacher income levels.

Let me first explain that I have a larger understanding of greed than just money. Money is one form. Greed is putting the love you have of yourself over everyone and everything else --- especially the truth. In one form it is doing anything for money but in another, doing anything to succeed--- even losing your morality like cheating on a test. I gave examples in government and business where the same self interest was exerted--- in Franklin Raines and Fannie Mae which had the result of making him lots of money and the taxpayer footing the bill for his shenanigans through the bail out. I gave another example of GM upper management it too probably was a huge contributing factor to the loss of their business.

Twister Frost asked if these were merit pay states and you stated they were not. While merit pay may be a great idea, "merit pay" systems in the above examples lead to morality getting trumped by greed or more broadly, self interests.

I think this was the same motivation the teachers had when they changed the test scores. As Twister Frost said, most teachers would not consider this on this kind of test. Most teachers would not consider this but their job is to get feedback from their students to see whether they need to change how they are teaching.

I don't think one should gloss over the facts just because it doesn't fit the view you want (as these teachers did). You look at the facts and then adjust your view accordingly.

These teachers obviously had a self interest in changing test scores and hiding the facts. It was an action taken by them of their self interests in manipulating the facts. The same happened in the cases I cited with Franklin Raines and even with GM management hiding profits for their investors over their workers.

Greed and power and the love of money will ruin the country if allowed to continue. So will changing test scores. Morality must win over in this struggle or we will fail to deal with the facts and hence change course to something that actually works.

When it comes to teachers, we shouldn't expect them to be able to teach every student. Some students have to mature or just grow out of the situation they are in. Some will never be book smart. That doesn't mean these students are worthless. I know some pretty successful people who were not school smart. Just look at Albert Einstein as an example. He did poorly in the grade school setting but was a genius.

We shouldn't put unrealistic expectations on teachers but they shouldn't hide the facts by changing standardized test scores. We certainly shouldn't allow the self interests of Franklin Raines, GM stockholders, or teachers to trump morality. I think we can all look at those cases and say what they did was morally wrong. The question is whether or not we are allowing these morally wrong things to take place in each of these incidents or do we foster an atmosphere where they are allowed to thrive at such high levels.? Should we accept any of this? I of course do not think we should.

Tex
 
Twister Frost asked if these were merit pay states and you stated they were not. While merit pay may be a great idea, "merit pay" systems in the above examples lead to morality getting trumped by greed or more broadly, self interests.

January 20, 2011 The merit-pay plan is part of the $400 million Race to the Top federal grant awarded last summer to Georgia and applies next year to the 26 participating districts. The state's application for the grant indicates the merit-pay system will be made available statewide within five years.
Twenty-three local school districts have signed on to partner with the state in implementing Georgia's Race to the Top plan. These districts, which make up 41 percent of public school students in Georgia, include: Atlanta, Ben Hill, Bibb, Burke, Carrollton, Chatham, Cherokee, Clayton, DeKalb, Dougherty, Gainesville, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Jones, Meriwether, Muscogee, Rabun, Richmond, Rockdale, Spalding, Valdosta and White.

Less enthusiasm among teachers for merit pay plan

if merit pay was an incentive.. one would think, they would want to show results "after" it was implemented. :?
 

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