Teachers Cheating - We Have a Problem

I've been casually following the Georgia teachers cheating scandal the past few days.  A year ago, I think there was a similar story out of South Carolina; so if I get the details mixed up, please forgive me.  As what the industry calls a "veteran teacher," I am horrified by just about every part of these stories.  I almost can't organize my thoughts because I have so many.  This blog is really serving more to help me sort out my own thoughts than to enlighten anyone.  Join in my thoughts at your own risk.

First thought - every study in the known universe says that standardized tests do not show student learning in any kind of meaningful way.  Whether it be Stanford Achievement Tests, State End of Course Tests, or some kind of Common Core / No Child Left Behind federal nonsense, all of these tests can only test the lowest possible levels on Bloom's taxonomy - Remembering.  They do not test a student's ability to apply, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, create, collaborate, or innovate - you know the important stuff we really want them to learn.  They test their ability to remember factual information.  If your child's teacher cares about education, they are teaching them on much higher levels than these tests can possibly evaluate.  Remembering is important, but it hardly seems like what a student should be evaluated on, much less their teacher or their school.

That brings me to my second thought.  I'm in favor of evaluating teachers on their merit, but the scores on a standardized test that only evaluate a students lowest level thinking skills is not the way to determine the merit of a teacher.  Government schools are using this method because it is the easiest method, not the best.  To connect the salary of a teacher to these scores alone is insane.  Here are some examples of why.
1.  When I taught in public school, I taught courses called "basic skills" courses.  That meant about 30% of my students had special needs and were on IEP's.  The teacher next door to me taught honors courses, so about 3% of her students were on IEP's, and a few of those were for high IQ programs.  Our students were given the exact same End of Course test.  Was it really expected that my students would achieve the same scores?  Some of her kids could have made the 99th percentile without having taken the class.
2. There are students who care so little about these tests that they fill in C for every question and then take a nap; that cannot possibly be how you want to evaluate whether that teacher deserves a raise. 
3.  When I taught in public school, I had students who spent the weekend in jail right before taking these tests.  Can we expect a teacher, no matter how great he or she is, to affect the outcome of that student's score?
4.  The same tests is given to students who speak almost no English and native speakers.  Do we penalize the teacher whose students have a hard time understanding the question?  Should she have also taught them to comprehend written English while she was teaching them biology?

The stakes are getting even higher (which is the only explanation I have for administrators getting in on the cheating).  Now, the existence of an entire school might be entirely dependent on how students score on these tests.  The school in a district with a lot of kids at risk for hunger might not be able to exist because its students were to hungry to focus on test questions.  The school in a high crime area might be shut down because students don't care enough about the test to answer the questions with anything more than random letters (or spell out curse words in the bubbles).  These are the areas where the schools are most needed.  Clearly, there is a problem with using the "easy method" of evaluating the people who choose to teach in these most difficult of circumstances.

All of this said, I do not give these teachers any kind of pass for the horrible example they have set for their students.  There is NO EXCUSE for any teacher ever cheating.  We are here to teach them far more than what is on these tests.  We are here to model ethics, responsibility, and citizenship.  We are here to teach them that no matter what the pressures, honesty is non-negotiable.  We teach 24/7/365, and they are ALWAYS watching.  Everything we do teaches them something, and these teachers have taught that a lack of integrity is okay as long as you feel pressured.  What does integrity mean when you aren't under pressure?  If you can't keep your integrity under pressure, please don't choose education as a career. 

In last year's story out of South Carolina, teachers were gathering together in the teacher's lounge with erasers and pencils.  They were holding "erasing parties!"  This. Is. Horrifying.  I can almost see how one teacher, alone in their classroom, could talk themselves into crossing this line, thinking no one would know.  I can almost see a teacher trying to help a kid out while they are taking the test with a hint in the direction of the correct answer.  It's still wrong, but I can see how it could happen.  I cannot fathom what makes a group of educators (including their boss, who should be an additional model of ethics) collectively check their morality at the door.  Was there no one feeling uncomfortable?  Was there no one who said, "Guys, I don't think this is okay"?  For everyone to do this, there had to be some kind of communication.  Was there an e-mail or an announcement, telling teachers to bring their erasers to a meeting?  How can a group of people decide to do this?

We clearly have a problem.  What do we do to solve this problem?  I'm not sure.  I do know that merit needs to be tied to something besides test scores.  I do know that kids need to be taking fewer standardized tests, so there can be time for the more important things.  I do know that teachers who cheat should never be back in the classroom.  I do not know how to make those things happen.