There are at least three possible responses to pressure on teachers to get students up to par on state standardized tests. One is to do the job. Another is to take a pass, not get the job done, and criticize the test. A third is to cheat. Generally, we would characterize these responses, respectively, as the correct response, passing the buck, and unethical. Some teachers evidently don't see it that way. A disturbing article in the New York Post discusses "scrubbing," which the paper claims is a fairly widespread practice in Gotham schools, whereby a teacher revises the Regents Exam essays of students who are on the cusp of passing. "I'm sorry if it's shocking for laymen to hear," said an unnamed Manhattan teacher. "Scrubbing is something we have to do to help kids get their asses out of high school." Teaching them to write an acceptable essay, we guess, is out of the question. And in the magazine District Administration, Texas teacher Thomas Rosengren recounts how he decided to shift from teaching third grade to first grade because he couldn't hack the pressure of getting his students to proficiency on the TAKS. He portrays this as a bold step, while those who "teach to the test" are knuckling under to administrators and legislators. So, in Orwellian fashion, cheating is now virtue, passing the buck is courageous, and getting the job done is cowardice.
"Teachers cheat," by Carl Campanile, New York Post, January 26, 2004
"Unethically teaching to the test," by Thomas Rosengren, District Administration, January 2004