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Posted by Frank Felton on April 13, 2012
President Obama’s recent announcement of waivers for certain provisions of No Child Left Behind will continue to put pressure on principals and teachers to perform. One of the conditions of the waivers is that states and districts must create guidelines for teacher and principal evaluation systems that will be based, in part, on student growth and used for personnel decisions. This will only add fuel to the current fire of cheating scandals from Atlanta to Washington, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.
In The New York Times, an author wrote that while Pennsylvania is still very early into its investigation, "the first step is not encouraging." In Pennsylvania, the state has directed school districts and charter operators to investigate themselves, but Georgia’s governor appointed two former prosecutors to conduct an investigation.
A Georgia state investigation into what appeared to be a public school system that was working resulted in confessions and revelations of dishonesty, according to a recent report by The New York Times.
This is what happens when you don't have the proper checks and balances to provide timely validated measurable results. According to the investigation, there were indications of cheating on statewide tests that went back to 2001 and clear signs by 2005. It has taken 10 years to bring this problem to light.
Why do these incidents take years to be addressed? Four years after the DC superintendent left, outside auditors found problems with the district’s test results. Meanwhile, the students continue to suffer.
These three incidents represent a cautionary tale for states moving forward with performance-
Atlanta Public Schools conducted an internal investigation and found nothing; however, when the state investigated, it uncovered widespread cheating. Can you audit yourself? Districts are required to have annual independent financial audits, so why not independent audits of test scores? Given the cutbacks occurring in states, are they prepared to conduct school audits?
When you make performance a high-
Whenever you use measurements to drive behavior, you must address the unintended consequences. That is why it is critical to make sure you have a balance of measurements that includes factors like program effectiveness, professional development, teacher collaboration, and effective asset utilization. This will help school staff to focus on measures that drive student achievement in the short and long term.
Of course, any measures being used to drive behavior need to be audited to ensure that there are not unintended consequences. On an ongoing basis, district staff should audit the leading measures: program effectiveness, professional development, teacher collaboration, and effective assets utilization. Meanwhile, outside agencies should audit final outcome measures like high-
Another method to ensure that proper checks and balances are in place to audit measures is the use of transparency. Opening a principal’s or teacher’s measures to the inspection and discussion by their peers would help to minimize cheating. It is difficult for one or a group of people to commit a fraudulent act if his decisions are open for peer review. The fact that someone could anonymously report fraudulent behavior should nip in the bud any thoughts to cheat.
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Frank Felton is a partner at a performance management consulting firm RAF & Associates and a former school administrator.
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Measurements Unintended Consequences: Cheating