A Carolina scandal not related to the Confederate flag....
More news reports here, and here, and here, about the security violation scandal in South Carolina. This scandal interests me because I grew up in South Carolina, although I graduated before the current PACT tests and the emphasis on accountability.
Three teachers have had their licenses suspended (though not revoked) since the tests were implemented in 1998, and ten schools have been or are now under investigation by SLED (State Law Enforcement Division). This security violation is a misdemeanor that can carry a 90-day jail sentence or a $1000.00 fine; failure to report any security violation is also a crime, and at least one school considers their violation to be "human error" that was reported just be on the "safe side" (of the iron jail bars, apparently).
The third article that I've linked to is the oldest one, but it's the most comprehensive and it lists several cases of cheating nationwide. The Devil's Advocate in me just has to notice that when students cheat on classroom tests, we discipline the students and keep the tests, but when teachers and administrators assist the students in cheating on statewide tests, some rush to declare this as evidence that the tests should be abolished. Interesting, isn't it? After all, the fact that some will always try to get around the rules could be used as support for abolishing just about any rule, according to this logic. To their credit, though, the school principals state emphatically that the pressure posed by the tests do not justify any "lapses in judgement" on the part of the test administrators.