About 30 percent of Michigan's teachers feel pressure to cheat on standardized tests, survey finds
Nearly 30 percent of Michigan's teachers feel pressured to cheat on standardized tests by parents and bosses, according to a report in The Detroit Free Press.
The results come from a Free Press survey of members of the Michigan Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers-Michigan and the Detroit Federation of Teachers during May and June.
About 3,000 teachers across the state took the survey out of the approximately 51,000 members of the MEA and AFT that had been offered the opportunity. The survey was done after a Free Press report earlier this year reported grade fixing at one Detroit school and suspected cheating at 34 other schools in Michigan. None were in Washtenaw County.
Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
InterestedReader
Sat, Jul 30, 2011 : 4:16 p.m.
"One out of three public school educators report pressure from bosses, parents or others to change grades, and nearly 30% say pressure to cheat on standardized tests is a problem at their school, according to a voluntary Free Press survey of Michigan educators." The survey reports that teachers express that they feel pressured, not that they cheat. It is sad that Annarbpr.com presented the results slanted to inflame the already teacher negative atmosphere and that commenters responded in kind.
macjont
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 11:31 p.m.
Focusing on the form of "cheating" described is a distraction from the real problem: teachers forced to "teach to the test" and ignore true education.
Jim
Fri, Jul 29, 2011 : 2:38 a.m.
macjont, I agree! The funny thing is teachers are teaching to the MEAP. Not the National Content Standards, that the rest of the world teaches to. The politition's like to point out that are kids do poorly on the National Content tests when they are the people who choose the content our teachers teach. FYI I compared fourth grade MEAP standards and fourth grade National Content Standards, and they do not align. I read that this year the kids in Michigan did well on the MEAP, and then the politions said they must have cheated. So they were going to raise the cut score. Its crazy!
Roger Roth
Fri, Jul 29, 2011 : 12:29 a.m.
How right you are!
mkm17
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 2:47 p.m.
I hope I am misunderstanding the headline and article. Why would a teacher feel pressure to cheat? I can understand feeling frustrated or feeling angry about the system, but I don't understand feeling pressure to cheat. My bank once gave me $200 cash instead of the $100 I withdrew, and I did not feel pressure to keep the extra $100. It does not make sense to me that about 1/3 of teachers would feel the pressure to cheat. Does "pressure" mean "temptation"? Maybe I am not understanding.
Jim
Fri, Jul 29, 2011 : 2:27 a.m.
Mr. Snyder signed to bills into law that set teacher evaluations based on student performance on the MEAP. If a class of students does poorly the teacher will be let go after two years of poor performing students on the MEAP. The problem that I see is that if you are a teacher in an inner-city school and your students do poor on the MEAP you are going to think about ways to help yourself keep your job. Or If you ever wanted to make a difference, but now know your pay and your ability to keep a roof over your head, is in the students hands you probably wont take that inner-city job. I am a parent and see the struggles teachers go threw and this new law is not good for anyone.
Dog Guy
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 4:18 a.m.
The headline implies that about 70 percent of my teaching colleagues are lying in denying the pressures school administrators apply regarding raising test scores creatively. The 50% reporting pressure to change grades seems usual, but teaching to the test "in view of the testing modalities and subject emphases" is the name of the game.
Sandy Castle
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 2:05 a.m.
Cheating doesn't benefit anyone, least of all the kids who you "pass" and then they must move forward through the system when you haven't taught them diddly. Teaching isn't for everyone, perhaps it's not the career for some and they should choose another career. Thank you, Gov. Snyder, for the teacher reform legislation!
bigblue
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 4:07 a.m.
"cheating doesn't benefit anyone"...false if cheating allows a teacher to keep their job then in a way they have benefited. i'm pretty sure if the choice is to cheat or get fired from your job most people who like to eat, have a decent place to live, and take care of their families are going to chea.t
DonBee
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 3:54 a.m.
Sorry - I made several errors in the message. Let's try this again: Ms Castle - Regardless with social promotion almost every student passes and is promoted each year. Cheating is not required. After all it ruins a student's self esteem to be held back, so regardless of whether they are really ready or not they move forward. This is the way modern education works.
DonBee
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 3:52 a.m.
Ms Castle - Regardless with social promotion almost every student passes and is promoted each year. Cheating is not required. After all it ruin's a student's self esteem to be held back, so regardless of whether they are really ready or not them move forward. This is the way modern education works.
Jim
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 3:16 a.m.
Sandy, I agree. But I have been out of work and have spent the time in my sons classroom. It has been an eye opening experience. The stuff teachers have to deal with is crazy. It would take me hours to tell you everything. I will say that after spending the last three months in the classroom Im convinced that most teachers are trying to do there best to educate kids. And most are making a difference. If teachers are not allowed to teach all the subjects and forced to teach to the MEAP. Students will be loosing a well rounded education. If you have the time read the book "The rise and fall of the American Education System" It was a quick read. Do some research and write me back, I would be interested to here your comments on the book.
Jim
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 2:03 a.m.
Has anyone read the new teacher evaluation scale. I would be shocked if any teachers didn't feel pressure to cheat to keep there jobs. The children will be the ones that suffer. Kids are not machines, sometimes they need teachers that can help them deal with personal of family issues. Or are good for kids that need a certain type of teacher that can motivate them to do there personal best. Now every class will have the same number of good, bad, and struggling students. So it will be fair. It won't be about what's best for students, it will be about what will not get a teacher fired. Good Job Snyder, NOT! Based on what Snyder has done for the kids in Michigan, I can see why he want's to attract more immigrants to Michigan with a degree. He is looking for cheap workers from other countries that will do the work for less. This is a sad day in Michigan's history. I hope people become more informed about candidates for public office before voting next time.
snoopdog
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 12:50 a.m.
This ain't "Pure Michigan" . This is "Pure Posturing" enacted by the MEA and supported by local unions throughout the state. I am certain the teachers are enjoying their extended summer break thanks to the taxpayers who are still working during this long hot summer. Good Day
Roger Roth
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 1:02 a.m.
You should have become a teacher and hopped on the Teacher Gravy Train. For what it's worth to you, I'm enjoying, I think now, my 40th summer off. Lots of golf. Reading. Visiting friends. Whatever I want to do. And the paychecks keep rolling in. And, by the way, no thanks to taxpayers at all. It's all because I made the decision 50 years ago to devote my life to kids. I love it. It hasn't been easy. But I still love it. Any other person could have made the same decision. If you didn't and now wish you had, sorry. If you're relatively young, there's still time to go for it. Keep in mind, though, you'll endure the wrath of sour grape taxpayers throughout your career. Good Luck!
Roger Roth
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 10:10 p.m.
I think all teachers should be fired and replaced with brand new, more highly qualified people who will most certainly immediately raise test scores to Snyder's desired levels and for which Rick will dip deeply into the cornucopia that is the state treasury and reward them handsomely, plus give them back the 3% that Granholm took from them last year and redesign the pension system so that such qualified, stellar, deserving educators might reap a truly golden parachute pension--like many, many CEO's get. Look for bonuses, as well. What teacher in his/her right mind would give the least bit of credence to Snyder's promise to reward their excellence, unless it's with a big spaghetti dinner at the end of his/her career and a KMart-framed Thank-You letter, signed by Rick, himself. And, along the way, the public will continue to vent its collective spleen on teachers because they earn 50K/year for doing nothing, according to arrogant, entitled politicians. I've said it before and I'll say it again: If government worked 10% as well as our teachers and our public schools, we wouldn't be in the mess we're now in.
Jake C
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 9:59 p.m.
This should serve as a wake-up call to people calling for Merit Pay compensation for teachers. Right now, teachers mostly just want to do the best they can for their students, and earn their salary. Most teachers will do everything they possibly can to help their students succeed. But sometimes year-over-year performance will decline, because each class is made up of unique human beings with unique issues. Bosses will always push their employees to do the best they can, but at the end of the day, most people want to be honest and do the right thing. But when state bureaucrats suddenly start connecting student performance to teacher pay, at the same time they also slash teachers' base take-home pay, how do you think they're going to respond? Suddenly teachers have a tempting incentive to miss an error on a math test here, or grade a student's English paper as "B-" instead of "C+" in order to hit that next pay level. And that kind of stuff is easy to do compared to standardized tests. Performance-based pay works great in some areas (finance, wall street, sales, etc), but it's frightening to think what it could do to the teaching profession.
Jim
Thu, Jul 28, 2011 : 3:45 a.m.
Jake you are correct! Every class is different and every year is different. Students come to class with a ton of baggage. Parents are getting a divorce and the child is told that they caused the divorce, that child is still expected to give a 100% on the MEAP. A parent dies suddenly but that child is still required to give a 100% on the MEAP. A child's parent was to drunk to make them breakfast and pack them a lunch today, but that child is still required to give a 100% on the MEAP. Todays teachers take these children in and make all the bad stuff at home go away for 7 hours a day. Now these teaches are going to have the same kids with the same problems. And now a teacher will only keep there job if they raise student scores on the MEAP. Teachers have families too! They need to keep a roof over there families head. Teachers take care of our kids while we work. We have to stop this "Burn the Witch" mentality and start helping make Michigan great again.
J. A. Pieper
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 8:44 p.m.
Teachers want to teach, it is what we do and love. NCLB means well, but it leaves out the other two thirds of the equation necessary in educating children - the child (taking some responsibility for learning behavior), and the parents! It seems this current generation is pushing so much on teachers, things that families used to do, and some children who miss out on what the family is supposed to do, they aren't learning as much as they are expected to. Maybe the public isn't aware of the fact that these days kindergarten students are expected to be able to read; this is one example of the higher expectations we are pushing down on our children these days. Wonder why more kids are struggling to learn, and SOME teachers feel pressured to cheat on standardized tests? Even here in AAPS there is pressure from the administrators to improve test scores ... not necessarily based on student ability.
Roger Roth
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 8:42 p.m.
OverTaxed writes, "Now I pay for people to cheat the system??" "Cheating the system" is as old as dirt. I don't know how devious your mind might be, but try to think of as many ways as you can that someone (or a corp. or a bank) might "cheat the system," and you will probably come up with far under 1% of the ways "the system" has already been cheated. And, there are new "cheating the system" trails being blazed all the time. I even have the audacity to think that maybe we should be offering courses in "cheating the system" in high school, which would give kids survival options after their employer hung them out to dry by outsourcing their job the kids did all the right things to obtain.
Pika
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 8:03 p.m.
"Leave No Child Behind" is a disaster of epic proportions. When we stop blaming teachers and start working constructively to make education better by funding it at acceptable levels then and only then will we start to see a turn around in this dismal situation. Right wing knee jerk reactions like "No Child Left Behind" always backfire.
David Briegel
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 9:27 p.m.
djacks, according to your own "quotes", this is the "state" moving and has nothing to do with our very centrist President. But I'm sure you won points with your TeaPublican friends who share your "typical conservative mentality".
djacks24
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 8:17 p.m.
Typical Liberal mentality and not to mention hypocritical from your statement. Don't bother reading the article and blame Bush. From the article: "The survey results show the pressures on educators as the state moves toward making student progress and test scores a major factor in teacher evaluations starting in 2013." Unless I'm mistaken, you can blame your leftest president for this "disaster of epic proportions".
Andrew Morsello
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 8:01 p.m.
"About 30 percent" is in the story title/"Feel Pressure to Cheat" is in the story title/ How close to 30 Percent is About??/Is feeling pressure mean they cheated??/Think about the expectation of your Editor you report to, does the pressure he gives make you "Feel the Pressure to Cheat" on the facts.
OverTaxed
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 7:35 p.m.
I don't have kids. I pay alot into this socialist system, not written in the Constitution. Now I pay for people to cheat the system?? How about we just teach the kids so they can answer the questions themselves?
David Briegel
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 9:19 p.m.
You certainly do represent the Flat Earth Society in a fine fashion!
1bigbud
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 7:45 p.m.
Move to Canada I am not lying MOVE Please
alarictoo
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 7:25 p.m.
Ahhh... I see. The Freep did the real reporting and this is just another vague link meant to cast general aspersions upon the teaching profession yet again.
sh1
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 7:35 p.m.
It's a given that an article criticizing teachers will get a record number of hits from a predictable list of contributors. They can't write 'em fast enough to feed the frenzy that awaits.
alarictoo
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 7:23 p.m.
Kyle - Please define your terms a little more clearly. Are you saying here that teachers feel pressured to cheat on standardized tests they are taking to maintain their certifications? Or, are you saying that they are feeling pressured to cheat on the results of their students standardized tests?
Alaska
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 7:22 p.m.
none were*, even.
Kyle Feldscher
Wed, Jul 27, 2011 : 7:48 p.m.
That's been updated, thank you.