The Atlanta Public Schools Scandal: Educator Fraud, RICO, And COSO

As the new Chief Audit Executive (CAE) of the school district in Big City, you are interested in the lessons regarding internal control which can be learned from educator fraud (cheating) which occurred in the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) scandal.  You discover that educators erased students’ wrong answers and changed them to right answers, that educators made false certifications of test results, and that tests were opened (and resealed) prior to administration.  The cheating went on for years.  Multiple investigations ensued and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation eventually became involved.  About 150 educators resigned, retired or lost their appeals to have their jobs reinstated. Educators who chose to go to trial were prosecuted under the RICO statute (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act).  The APS eventually begun making remediation efforts for the students impacted by false test results.  To attempt to prevent such cheating and fraud from occurring again, you relate the facts of the case to both the COSO internal control framework and to the fraud triangle. As CAE, you will use this information to instruct the internal auditors in your department.

La familia de falacias "enseñando para el examen"

This article explains the various meanings and ambiguities of the phrase “teaching to the test” (TttT), describes its history and use as a pejorative, and outlines the policy implications of the popular, but fallacious, belief that “high stakes” testing induces TttT which, in turn, produces “test score inflation” or artificial test score gains. The history starts with the infamous “Lake Wobegon Effect” test score scandal in the US in the 1980s. John J. Cannell, a medical doctor, discovered that all US states administering national norm-referenced tests claimed their students’ average scores exceeded the national average, a mathematical impossibility. Cannell blamed educator cheating and lax security for the test score inflation, but education insiders managed to convince many that high stakes was the cause, despite the fact that Cannell’s tests had no stakes. Elevating the high stakes causes TttT, which causes test score inflation fallacy to dogma has served to divert attention from the endemic lax security with “internally administered” tests that should have encouraged policy makers to require more external controls in test administrations. The fallacy is partly responsible for promoting the ruinous practice of test preparation drilling on test format and administering practice tests as a substitute for genuine subject matter preparation. Finally, promoters of the fallacy have encouraged the practice of “auditing” allegedly untrustworthy high-stakes test score trends with score trends from allegedly trustworthy low-stakes tests, despite an abundance of evidence that low-stakes test scores are far less reliable, largely due to student disinterestEste artículo explica los diversos significados y ambigüedades de la frase "enseñar para el examen" (TttT: teaching to the test en inglés), describe su historia y su uso como un peyorativo, y describe las implicaciones políticas de la creencia popular, pero falaz, que las pruebas de a “gran escala” inducen TttT que, a su vez, produce una "inflación en la calificación obtenida en el examen" o ganancias em cuanto a los puntos obtenidos en la prueba. La historia comienza con el infame escándalo de la puntuación de la prueba "Lake Wobegon Effect" en los Estados Unidos en los años ochenta. John J. Cannell, un médico, descubrió que todos los estados de los Estados Unidos que administraban pruebas nacionales con referencias normativas afirmaban que los puntajes promedio de sus estudiantes excedían el promedio nacional, una imposibilidad matemática. Cannell atribuyó a los educadores el engaño y la seguridad laxa por la inflación de la puntuación de los exámenes, pero los expertos en educación lograron convencer a muchos de que las pruebas a gran escala eran la causa, a pesar de que las pruebas de Cannell no tenían ninguna fiabilidad. Exagerar las pruebas a gran escala hace que TttT hace que la falla de la inflación de la puntuación de la prueba al dogma haya servido para desviar la atención de la seguridad laxa endémica con pruebas "internamente administradas" que deberían haber alentado a los responsables políticos a exigir más controles externos en las administraciones de las pruebas. La falacia es en parte responsable de promover la práctica ruinosa en la preparación de las pruebas en el formato de prueba y la administración de pruebas prácticas como un sustituto de la preparación de la materia original. Por último, los promotores de la falacia han fomentado la práctica de "auditar" tendencias de determinadas puntuación en las pruebas a gran escala con las tendencias de puntuación presuntamente confiables de las pruebas de baja exigencia, a pesar de la abundancia de pruebas donde las puntuaciones de las pruebas a menor escala son mucho menos confiables debido al desinterés de los estudiante

Converting Assessment of Traditional Classroom Assignments to the e-Learning Environment

While assessment in an e-classroom continues to develop, with a myriad of advantages and disadvantages, it must be explored to provide assistance to e-instructors so that students receive optimal feedback. Assessment is no longer the periodic formal process of exams and graded activities, which may or may not be discussed with the class; it is now in the context of a one-on-one relationship with the e-instructor and each student in the online course (Meyen, Aust, & Issacson, 2002)

Illuminating and Challenging Specious High Stakes Standardized Test Preparation Methodologies

Historically, educational reform initiatives highlight standardized tests as reliable tools to measure student performance. Unfortunately, educational reform initiatives have yet to narrow the achievement gap between high and low performing students and have arguably aided in its growth. Recent testing scandals have cast a bright light on the widening disparity in academic achievement as well as test preparation methodology. This article critically examines two arguments on teaching to the test and teaching the test as valid methodologies. A collaborative argumentation educational model is offered to attend to the learning needs of policy makers, parents, students, administrators, and teachers in an effort to avoid the corruption, data manipulation and cheating that negatively impacts the educational system

Meaning-Making, Negotiation, and Change in School Accountability, Or What Sociology Can Offer Policy Studies

In school systems around the world, countless reform strategies have focused on school and teacher accountability—the process of evaluating schools’ performance on the basis of student measures. Policy and education research has been dominated by debates on its effectiveness, where advocates highlight the positive effects on achievement while critics emphasize the negative consequences on pressure, morale, and autonomy. Yet the question is not so much whether to have accountability, but what form it should take. To answer this, sociologists contribute through their study of accountability’s organizational and ecological dynamics—key facets that are sidelined when researchers only focus on quantitative program evaluation. An organizational perspective highlights the meaning-making school actors and the general public have of the policy, viewing it through technical-rationalist and institutional-performative lenses. An ecological perspective highlights how the form of accountability is a negotiated outcome of larger macrosocial forces, and how accountability is itself contributive to larger social changes. This review suggests a broader conceptualization of accountability regimes, and the unique contribution of critical, organizational, and sociological perspectives to the study of public policies

Repensando efeitos colaterais de responsabilização/accountability na educação. Resultados de um estudo multi-métodos em quatro sistemas escolares alemães

Based on a research project comprising data from an interview study and a survey with teachers and school principals in four German federal states (Bundesländer), this paper questions the claim that the side effects of accountability in education are bound to high-stakes contexts, and also provides evidence of side effects occurring in no- and low-stakes contexts. The findings suggest that side effects cannot be fully explained by certain implementation features of accountability regimes (e.g. high stakes), but should rather be understood as a result of implementation features as well as systematic effects of accountability in education.Basado en un proyecto de investigación que comprende datos de entrevistas y encuestas con profesores y directores de escuelas en cuatro Estados federados (Bundesländer), este trabajo cuestiona la afirmación de que los efectos secundarios de rendición de cuentas en educación están limitados a contextos de gran repercusión (high-stakes) y también proporciona evidencias de efectos secundarios que ocurren en contextos de baja o sin repercussion (low-stakes). Los resultados sugieren que los efectos secundarios no pueden explicarse completamente por ciertas características de la aplicación de los regímenes de rendición de cuentas por ejemplo de gran repercusión, pero debe entenderse más bien como ambos: como resultado de características de implementación y como efectos sistemáticos de rendición de cuentas en la educación. Baseado em um projeto de pesquisa que abrange dados de entrevistas e questionários com professores e diretores de escolas em quatro unidades da federação alemã (Bundesländer), este texto questiona a alegação de que os efeitos colaterais de responsabilização/accountability na educação estão vinculados aos contextos onde há sançoes (high-stakes) e também traz evidências dos efeitos que ocorrem em contextos com menores ou sem consequencias (low-stakes). Os resultados sugerem que efeitos colaterais não podem ser totalmente explicados por certas características de implementação de regimes de responsabilidade, por exemplo, high-stakes, mas antes devem ser entendidos como ambos: como resultado de características de implementação e como efeitos sistemáticos de responsabilização na educação

A Decade in the Paranoid World of US Education Research, Part 1: The Scoldings

This article describes scoldings I endured during one decade working in the education research "industry," for contract research firms serving a range of education organizations, from local school districts to international agencies, and for educational test development firms. Ten scoldings are described one-by-one in some detail in the Appendix. Immediately below, I summarize the scoldings in three ways: by their common characteristics; their effects (i.e., "lessons learned"); and the implications of those effects