California says 200 teachers helped kids cheat on state exams [View All]

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State investigations have found nearly 200 public school teachers helped students cheat on state exams by giving them hints, answers or extra time to finish, records show. Investigations proved the allegations against more than half of about 400 teachers who were investigated statewide in the past five years, the Department of Education said. Last month, the department said only 200 investigations had been performed but later doubled the figure, saying some paperwork inadvertently had been omitted. The additional cases are "still not a lot compared to the hundreds of thousands of teachers we have," said Barbara Kerr, president of the 300,000-member California Teachers Association.

Most investigations led to reprimands and warnings, but a few teachers were fired or resigned, according to school administrators and union officials. The incidents include a teacher in the El Monte City Unified School District who reviewed 24 students' answers, told them to erase some and re-administered the test. In another case, a teacher in the Westside Unified School District in Palmdale told 37 students last year to write a first draft of an exam essay, edit it and then copy the revised version for the test.

The teacher didn't realize that was against the rules, district Superintendent Regina Rossall said. The state-required standardized tests are used to gauge school performance and consistently low scores can lead to reassignment of teachers and withholding of federal funds.

"This is a huge stakes test," Rossall said. "I mean, that's a report card in the end," she said. "That's how the public is measuring our schools."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/06/23/state0620EDT0033.DTL