What happens to teachers who help their students cheat? Well, in at least one California case, the result was a new job:
The Vista Unified School District has reprimanded and transferred a teacher at Mission Meadows Elementary School after a district investigation found that the teacher provided improper help to students and caused "irregularities" on state standardized tests, according to a letter district officials sent to the state......the district said that its investigation into a teacher's handling of the 2005 Standardized Testing and Reporting exam or STAR test found:
* The teacher admitted to having multiplication tables hanging on the wall during the math portion of the standardized test.
* In response to a specific allegation, the teacher said a misunderstanding may have led to one student's perception that she reviewed the standardized test and had students change their answers. The teacher said she reviewed each test to ensure that answers were filled in and that there were no stray marks.
* However, eight out of 17 students interviewed individually about the math portion of the STAR test said they were told which answers to correct when the teacher reviewed the tests.The district's investigation concluded that testing irregularities did occur on the STAR tests...
The letter said the district reprimanded the teacher by placing her on administrative leave for the last two weeks of the school year that ended in June. The district also transferred the teacher from Mission Meadows to another school for this 2005-06 school year. Cowles declined to name the teacher or where she was transferred to, and said he had no comment on any personnel matters.
At least one parent is unhappy with the way the situation has been handled, in part because she didn't hear the outcome until she read about it in the papers.
Posted by kswygert at August 23, 2005 06:36 AM