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there is incredible pressure on school systems and teachers to raise test scores says walt <unk> an education professor and testing specialist at boston college |
so efforts to beat the tests are also on the rise |
and most disturbing it is educators not students who are blamed for much of the wrongdoing |
a <unk> study released in september by friends for education an <unk> n.m. <unk> group concluded that outright cheating by american educators is common |
the group says standardized achievement test scores are greatly inflated because teachers often teach the test as mrs. yeargin did although most are never caught |
evidence of widespread cheating has surfaced in several states in the last year or so |
california 's education department suspects adult responsibility for <unk> at N schools that changed wrong answers to right ones on a statewide test |
after numerous <unk> of questionable teacher help to students texas is <unk> its security practices |
and sales of <unk> booklets for classroom instruction are booming |
these materials including <unk> school publishing co. 's scoring high and learning materials are nothing short of sophisticated <unk> sheets according to some recent academic research |
by using them teachers with administrative blessing telegraph to students <unk> the precise areas on which a test will concentrate and sometimes give away a few exact questions and answers |
use of scoring high is widespread in south carolina and common in greenville county mrs. yeargin 's school district |
experts say there is n't another state in the country where tests mean as much as they do in south carolina |
under the state 's education improvement act low test scores can block students ' promotions or force entire districts into <unk> <unk> <unk> that can mean <unk> |
high test scores on the other hand bring recognition and extra money a new computer lab for a school grants for special projects a bonus for the <unk> |
and south carolina says it is getting results |
since the reforms went in place for example no state has posted a higher rate of improvement on the <unk> <unk> test than south carolina although the state still posts the lowest average score of the about N states who use the sat as the primary college <unk> examination |
critics say south carolina is paying a price by stressing improved test scores so much |
friends of education rates south carolina one of the worst seven states in its study on academic cheating |
says the organization 's founder john <unk> <unk> mrs. yeargin is a way for administrators to protect themselves and look like they take cheating seriously when in fact they do n't take it seriously at all |
paul <unk> director of testing for the south carolina department of education says mr. <unk> 's allegations of cheating are <unk> without foundation and based on unfair <unk> |
partly because of worries about potential abuse however he says the state will begin keeping closer track of <unk> preparation booklets next spring |
south carolina 's reforms were designed for schools like greenville high school |
standing on a <unk> hill in a <unk> area of this old textile city the school has educated many of south carolina 's best and <unk> including the state 's last two governors nobel prize winning <unk> charles <unk> and actress <unk> <unk> |
but by the early 1980s its glory had faded like the yellow bricks of its broad <unk> |
it was full of violence and gangs and kids cutting class says linda ward the school 's principal |
crime was awful test scores were low and there was no <unk> in <unk> programs |
mrs. ward took over in N becoming the school 's seventh principal in N years |
her immediate predecessor suffered a nervous breakdown |
prior to his term a teacher <unk> to death in the halls <unk> by a student |
<unk> mrs. ward says the school was having trouble serving in harmony its two <unk> and evenly split student groups a <unk> white elite from old <unk> neighborhoods and blacks many of them poor from <unk> inner city neighborhoods |
mrs. ward resolved to clean out <unk> in the school 's faculty and restore safety and she also had some new factors working in her behalf |
one was statewide school reform which raised overall educational funding and <unk> in a new public spirit for school <unk> |
another was nancy yeargin who came to greenville in N full of the energy and ambitions that reformers wanted to reward |
being a teacher just became my life says the <unk> mrs. yeargin a teacher for N years before her dismissal |
i loved the school its history |
i even <unk> about school and new things to do with my students |
while mrs. ward fired and restructured staff and struggled to improve <unk> mrs. yeargin worked <unk> days and fast became a student favorite |
in N and N she applied for and won bonus pay under the reform law |
encouraged by mrs. ward mrs. yeargin taught honor students in the state teacher <unk> program a reform creation designed to encourage good students to consider teaching as a career |
she won grant money for the school advised <unk> ran the <unk> club proposed and taught a new cultural <unk> class in western <unk> and was chosen by the school <unk> as teacher of the year |
she was an <unk> lady she had it all together says <unk> <unk> a freshman at the university of south carolina who had mrs. yeargin in the <unk> class last year |
she says that because of mrs. yeargin she gave up ambitions in architecture and is studying to become a teacher |
mary beth <unk> a greenville <unk> <unk> also says mrs. yeargin inspired her to go into education |
she taught us more in western <unk> than i 've ever learned in other classes says <unk> green a greenville senior |
in the classroom students say mrs. yeargin distinguished herself by <unk> teaching approaches forcing kids to pair up to complete classroom work or using <unk> type <unk> |
on <unk> she came to work to prepare study plans or sometimes even to polish the furniture in her classroom |
she just never gave it up says mary <unk> mary beth 's mother |
you 'd see her <unk> <unk> in the stands at a football game |
some fellow teachers however viewed mrs. yeargin as <unk> and too yielding to students |
mrs. ward says she often defended her to colleagues who called her a <unk> |
pressures began to build |
friends told her she was pushing too hard |
because of deteriorating hearing she told colleagues she feared she might not be able to teach much longer |
mrs. yeargin 's extra work was also helping her earn points in the state 's <unk> program |
but the most important source of points was student improvement on tests |
huge gains by her students in N and N meant a total of $ N in bonuses over two years a meaningful addition to her annual salary of $ N |
winning a bonus for a third year was n't that important to her mrs. yeargin insists |
but others at greenville high say she was eager to win if not for money then for pride and recognition |
mary elizabeth <unk> another <unk> teacher says she believed mrs. yeargin wanted to keep her standing high so she could get a new job that would n't demand good hearing |
indeed mrs. yeargin was interested in a possible job with the state teacher <unk> program |
last march after attending a teaching <unk> in washington mrs. yeargin says she returned to greenville two days before annual testing feeling that she had n't prepared her <unk> geography students adequately |
when test booklets were passed out N hours ahead of time she says she <unk> questions in the social studies section and gave the answers to students |
mrs. yeargin admits she made a big mistake but insists her <unk> were correct |
i was trying to help kids in an unfair testing situation she says |
only five of the N questions were geography questions |
the rest were history <unk> finance subjects they never had |
mrs. yeargin says that she also wanted to help lift greenville high school 's overall test scores usually near the bottom of N district high schools in <unk> carried annually by local newspapers |
mostly she says she wanted to prevent the damage to <unk> that her <unk> students would suffer from doing badly on the test |
these kids broke my heart she says |
a whole day goes by and no one even knows they 're alive |
they desperately needed somebody who showed they <unk> for them who loved them |
the last thing they needed was another <unk> blow |
school officials and prosecutors say mrs. yeargin is lying |
they found students in an advanced class a year earlier who said she gave them similar help although because the case was n't tried in court this evidence was never presented publicly |
that pretty much <unk> any <unk> that she was out to help the poor <unk> child says joe watson the prosecutor in the case who is also president of greenville high school 's <unk> association |
mrs. yeargin concedes that she went over the questions in the earlier class adding i wanted to help all students |
mr. watson says mrs. yeargin never complained to school officials that the standardized test was unfair |
do i have much <unk> for her mr. watson asks |
not really |
i believe in the system |
i believe you have to use the system to change it |
what she did was like taking the law into your own hands |
mrs. ward says that when the cheating was discovered she wanted to avoid the <unk> public disclosure that a trial would bring |
she says she offered mrs. yeargin a quiet resignation and thought she could help save her teaching certificate |
mrs. yeargin declined |
she said something like you just want to make it easy for the school |
i was <unk> mrs. ward recalls |
it was like someone had turned a <unk> in me |
to the <unk> and <unk> of her <unk> and legal authorities and perhaps as a measure of the <unk> of standardized tests <unk> yeargin won widespread local support |
the <unk> hearing at which she was dismissed was crowded with students teachers and parents who came to testify on her behalf |
supportive callers <unk> unfair testing not mrs. yeargin on a local radio talk show on which she appeared |
the show did n't give the <unk> of mrs. yeargin 's <unk> saying only that she helped students do better on the test |
the message to the board of education out of all this is we 've got to take a serious look at how we 're doing our <unk> and our testing policies in this state said the <unk> host |
<unk> in the greenville newspaper allowed that mrs. yeargin was wrong but also said the case showed how testing was being <unk> |
the radio show <unk> us says mrs. ward |
partly because of the show mr. watson says the district decided not to recommend mrs. yeargin for a first-time offenders program that could have <unk> the charges and the conviction from her record |
and legal authorities <unk> up an investigation worthy of a murder case |
over N witnesses mostly students were interviewed |
at greenville high school meanwhile some students especially on the <unk> <unk> were crushed |
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