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22 March 2005: Who's cheating? (1 of 4)
The headline of an article published online on January 18, 2005 by the Chillicothe Gazette reads: Increasing test pressures lead more teacher, school cheating.
The article states that the federal law known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has "changed the landscape of education." By creating a system where access to federal money is conditional, based on a district's performance on standardized tests, the article says that NCLB has created a culture of cheating among school and district administrators.
But don't worry. Because this is the United States, where there is a will, there is a way to make money:
A group of former testing experts has turned evidence of cheating nationwide into a business opportunity. Caveon, a new Utah consulting firm, operates as testing detectives for hire by schools and health care and other industries.
Indiana and North Carolina are expected to pay thousands of dollars to the testing security firm before the end of the school year. Delaware and South Carolina already are on board, and the firm is working with Massachusetts and Florida.
The group reviews state testing policies, analyzes student answer sheets for patterns of cheating and looks for test questions that have been leaked in advance.
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