Survey+-+Nearly+30%+of+Michigan+teachers+report+pressure+to+cheat

= = = = =BY CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY AND KRISTI TANNER-WHITE= =Published in the DETROIT FREE PRESS= =7/27/11= = = =One out of three public school educators report pressure from bosses, parents or others to change grades, and nearly 30% say pressure to cheat on standardized tests is a problem at their school, according to a voluntary Free Press survey of Michigan educators.= =At schools that don't meet federal standards, the tension is higher: About 50% say pressure to change grades is an issue, and 46% say pressure to cheat on the tests is a problem.= =Some cave in -- about 8% say they changed grades within the last school year, and at least 8% admit to some form of cheating to improve a student's standardized test score.= =The survey results show the pressures on educators as the state moves toward making student progress and test scores a major factor in teacher evaluations starting in 2013. The comments left by survey-takers reveal frustration with reliance on standardized tests to judge both students and teachers.= =The Free Press conducted the survey of members of the Michigan Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers-Michigan and the Detroit Federation of Teachers in May and June. More than 3,000 educators responded, about a 6% participation rate, similar to that of a voluntary cheating survey by Arizona __ [|StateUniversity] __ that was published in an education journal last year.= =The survey was conducted after Free Press reports this year revealed allegations of [|grade-fixing at one Detroit school]and suspected cheating on state tests at nearly three dozen other schools with statistically improbable one-year improvements in test scores.= = Teacher pay tied to test scores turns up the heat = =Vickie Orr-Gale, a teacher at Marshall Elementary in Detroit, said she doesn't know anything about cheating going on at her school, but she does know that pressure to perform on high-stakes standardized tests generally tempts the weak to cheat, ignites scandals and hurts morale.= ="All over the country they're pressuring people to do better on these standardized tests, but we need to figure out another way" to measure student and teacher performance, said Orr-Gale, who has taught for 37 years.= =Orr-Gale is among 3,000 teachers and school staff who completed the Michigan Educator Survey -- a voluntary Free Press poll about grade-fixing and cheating on standardized tests that was sent to a majority of the state's public school teachers. The Michigan Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers-Michigan unions sent the survey to 51,000 of their members. The survey had a 6% participation rate.= =The survey was conducted after the Free Press reported earlier this year about grade-fixing at one Detroit elementary school and suspected cheating on standardized tests at 34 Michigan schools, including Marshall. The schools showed such large gains on the state MEAP from one year to the next that experts said the gains were statistically unlikely and should be investigated for cheating.= =In the Free Press survey, about 17% of respondents opted to report one or more forms of cheating engaged in by their peers. A smaller percentage -- 8% -- admitted to cheating themselves.= =They broke state standardized testing rules -- some perhaps unknowingly -- in a variety of ways, from changing wrong answers to coaching students during the test. Survey participants were able to choose from a list of 17 known cheating methods. On the self-reported cheating question, these responses were selected most often:= =• Wrote down helpful vocabulary words from the test to teach to the next year's students: 20%.= =• Encouraged students to redo problems: 15.3%.= =• Left helpful information on bulletin boards during testing: 17.5%.= =The voluntary survey also found that two out of three educators oppose using standardized tests to gauge student achievement. And 95% say they oppose using standardized tests to make decisions about teacher salaries.= =Nelson Maylone, a professor of educational psychology at Eastern Michigan __ [|University] __, said the survey results were "deplorable, but inevitable."= ="Teachers and principals have not been told to raise student achievement levels; they've been told to raise test scores, and the two things are not the same," he said. Attaching "indefensibly high stakes to grades and test scores produces pressure to cheat, which in turn results in actual cheating."= =Supporters of the MEAP and other standardized testing say the tests help judge student and teacher performance, but the results have to be accurate.= ="Cheating on any assessment is unacceptable, hurts the students and prevents schools from using valuable information to inform instruction," said Jan Ellis, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Education.= =Standardized testing is about to play a bigger part in teachers' jobs in Michigan.= =Under state law, by 2013-14, 25% of a teacher's annual evaluation must be based on student progress and test scores. That percentage will rise to 50% in 2015-16.= =And the Department of Education also plans to make it tougher for students to get a proficient score on the MEAP by raising standards. That's because ACT scores show only 17% of Michigan students leave high school prepared for college.= =The Free Press survey was done in May and June as teachers finalized grades for the school year. Overall, it found:= =• Three in 10 report pressure to cheat on standardized tests to improve student scores, and one-third report pressure to change grades.= =• Eight percent report cheating on a standardized test to improve a student's score, and 8% also report changing a grade.= =• Of teachers who report changing a grade, 34% say the pressure came from parents, and 31% say the pressure came from the principal.= =• About one in five teachers report they know of another educator who changed a grade for the better in 2010-11.= =• Educators who report their schools are not meeting federal Annual Yearly Progress standards report pressure at a higher rate -- about 50% report pressure to change grades, and 46% report pressure to cheat on tests.= =Survey respondent Elizabeth Vidmar, an educator for nearly three decades, retired this summer from teaching fifth-graders because the focus on state test scores stole from true classroom instruction, she said.= ="I see huge anxiety among teachers, more this summer than before because things are being mandated by the state as far as how teacher effectiveness is evaluated," said Vidmar, who taught in Plainwell Community Schools near Kalamazoo. "It means people are going to teach to the test. ... It excludes a lot of education. I couldn't teach like that anymore."= = **A nationwide problem** = =The focus on standardized tests is part of an education reform and accountability movement sweeping the nation. Failing to meet federal AYP standards too many years in a row can result in school closure or replacement of staff, among other sanctions.= =The Free Press survey results on cheating mirror those found by Audrey Amrein-Beardsley, an Arizona State __ [|Universityprofessor] __ and co-author of a study about cheating published last year.= ="It makes sense that the results are similar as teachers across all states are under similar pressures to perform, and there are only so many creative ways of doing so," she said.= =Across the nation, cheating on standardized tests has been uncovered in many places, including Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York and South Carolina, according to FairTest, a Massachusetts nonprofit that aims to prevent the misuse of standardized tests.= =Earlier this month, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal announced investigators found cheating in 44 of 56 Atlanta Public Schools examined in 2009 -- 178 teachers and principals were said to be involved and 82 of them confessed. As a result of the cheating, thousands of children didn't get remedial education because the inflated scores gave a false impression that they were succeeding.= =Union leaders say teachers should be judged by more than test results.= ="These tests were meant to be diagnostic, not determinative," said David Hecker, president of AFT-Michigan. "And since standardized tests are given in a limited number of subjects, they force the narrowing of the education our children receive."= =Doug Pratt, spokesman for the MEA, the state's largest teachers union, said the survey "underscores the need to have multiple measures of both student success and educator performance."= =Gary Miron, a professor of evaluation, measurement and research at Western Michigan University, said the national movement toward judging teacher performance by student test scores means states should work harder to catch cheaters by creating or strengthening oversight agencies.= ="States are behind," he said. "They need a number of measures in place for people to report cheating or make a complaint."= = = = = =News= =home=