Shorter Atlanta Journal Constitution Cheating Article

The ballyhooed AJC cheating package is worth checking out but here’s the much less sexy key takeaway from the article:

Statistical checks for extreme changes in scores are like medical tests, said Gary Phillips, a vice president and chief scientist for the large nonprofit American Institutes for Research, who advised the AJC on its methodology.

“This is a broad screening,” he said. “If you find something, you’re supposed to go to the doctor and follow up with a more detailed diagnostic process.”

The AJC’s methods are too imprecise because of how state tests work to offer much more.

My take on the larger cheating issue here.

2 Replies to “Shorter Atlanta Journal Constitution Cheating Article”

  1. Rational people respond to incentives.

    Mr. R, so you think teachers should respond to your invective and moralizing.

    Think again.

    Teachers ARE rational. They did not lose that faculty the minute they stepped into the classroom.

    Any one of minimal intelligence and varied job experience AVOIDS TEACHING LIKE THE PLAGUE.

    They know it offers misplaced incentives, low pay, and a rotten stinking work environment.

    I do not care about your tenure on the state school board. That puts you farther out of the mix than an ice-cream shoveler on the USS Nimitz.

    Where I come from, operational experience and performance is what counts. The staffers ARE the second raters. That is NOT the case in education. In fact, that massive quaking blob is moving at light speed towards more bureaucracy.

    Take a look at Florida. State board officials are telling parents they cannot opt their child out of testing and that their may be consequences. But there is NOTHING in the state ed code that provides for any kind of penalty.

    Parents should opt out, or at least ASK TO BE PAID FOR THEIR STUDENT”S DATA. Once that data is used for class placement or promotion then parents will come unglued.

    Mr. R, how about working for free?

  2. I think you should go a bit deeper into the story here. With the help of some colleagues, I have uncovered some MAJOR flaws with the AJC methodology and it appears they have done a huge disservice to our education system. It gets to the heart of the issues around the current state of education journalism, which is troubling. See http://www.reinventedsolutions.com for more details on this unfortunate quagmire the AJC now finds itself in.

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