Test scores, rating plunged at top elementary after Dallas ISD determined teachers had been cheating

[n2doc]

Umphrey Lee Elementary was recognized as one of the best schools in Dallas, based primarily on STAAR test scores. But Dallas ISD officials concluded that was a sham, a distinction propped up by teachers feeding students answers on most of the 2012-13 state assessment tests.

Five teachers and an instructional coach resigned as the result of an investigation last October. And by the end of the 2013-14 school year, the students’ STAAR results had plummeted, dropping the school from the state’s top rating to as low as they go.

District officials, however, never informed Umphrey Lee parents that their children might not have learned as much as their test scores indicated. Nor did the district offer tutoring or other remedial help for those students.

“Wow, I never heard anything. I never received a letter,” said Carol Williams-Burnett, whose daughter attended the school in Red Bird. “It is a disservice because they aren't given everything they need. If you don’t get what you need from the previous grade, then it will be really hard in the next grade.”

more

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20140814-staar-scores-plummet-at-top-performing-disd-elementary-after-cheating-uncovered-among-teachers.ece

[Demeter]

1. Playing GOTCHA with a SCAM

Since the testing was designed to make schools fail, any deviation from average (as in Dallas) is a clear indicator of fraud.

There is no way to win this rigged game, except by refusing to play it, demanding that it be stopped and the money put to some known good use.