Teacher in Adel resigns; test drills are cited
The superintendent says information 'awfully close' to basic skills exam material was being used.
A Dallas County seventh-grade science teacher resigned last month after administrators discovered he had drilled students on information found in the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, the district's superintendent said.
"They were talking about things that were awfully close to the test itself," said Tim Hoffman, Adel-DeSoto-Minburn's superintendent. "Students still had to figure things out, but the public has to depend on us to maintain the integrity of those tests."
After talking with administrators about the situation, teacher Gene Zwiefel, who had been with the district nearly 20 years, resigned, Hoffman said. The district invalidated all seventh-grade science test results and will not have data from that class, Hoffman said.
A person answering the phone at Zwiefel's house said the teacher had no comment.
Similar situations have occurred in at least four other Iowa schools, said David Frisbie, director of the Iowa City-based Iowa Testing Programs Inc., which develops the tests. He declined to name the schools.
Since passage of the federal education accountability law called No Child Left Behind, pressure has mounted for students and schools to do well on standardized tests. Schools with poor test scores face federal sanctions that could include financial cuts.
The pressure exists nationwide. This year in Houston, for instance, two elementary schoolteachers were fired after it was discovered they had helped students cheat on a mandatory statewide math test. Investigations at 24 other Texas schools are under way to determine whether cheating occurred.
Officials at Iowa Testing are fielding an increasing number of questions about what is appropriate while administering tests, Frisbie said. Next school year, Iowa Testing officials will give more specific information to educators, and they are urging school districts to adopt policies outlining acceptable testing practices.
"By teaching them the test, you're going to end up with scores that don't represent what kids know, and people are going to draw the conclusion that everything is OK, and everything isn't OK," Frisbie said. Students "won't get the kind of instruction and attention they need."
Hoffman said Adel-DeSoto-Minburn probably would revisit its testing procedures.
"We've counted on people to look at (instructions) themselves and use their own common sense," he said. "We'll probably visit that again before next year's test."
School districts are required by state and federal law to report students' test scores in fourth, eighth and 11th grades. Failure to do so could result in a citation from the Iowa Department of Education, being listed as a school needing improvement on No Child Left Behind lists, or ultimately loss of accreditation, said Kathi Slaughter, department spokeswoman.
Most school districts test students in all grades.
Teaching specific test information or giving students answers is against ethical guidelines and could result in a letter of reprimand or loss of a teacher's license, said Judy Jeffrey, Iowa Department of Education director and chairwoman of the Board of Educational Examiners. The board has never dealt with such a complaint, she said.
"There's a difference between teaching the test and teaching to the test ," Jeffrey said. "When a teacher actually prepares students by giving them the right answers, that's unethical. If you teach capitalization or how to identify a main character in a reading passage, those are life skills all students should have. It's the responsibility of administrators in school districts to make sure they're getting accurate results for students."
Frisbie said some schools are retesting because of problems that occurred in mandatory reporting grades. He said it is unclear how many violations actually occur.
"I know about four different schools where there has been some kind of misuse of the test that led to retesting," Frisbie said. "These are the districts that have told me. I'm sure there are some that aren't willing to fess up once they know about it."
The tests' directions include a list of acceptable and unacceptable practices, Frisbie said. The practices range from allowing students to take practice tests using exactly the same exams that will be given, which is wrong, to providing general instruction on concept areas without checking to see whether the material is covered on the tests, which is acceptable.
Don't think for a minute that I'm going to justify cheating. But I'm just going to say that you're going to see more and more of this as desperate teachers, under acute pressure from administrators, try to make sure their test results come out in the acceptable range.
See, the kids don't get kicked out for failing. The teachers get fired because the state funding gets cut off. You're still left with all these kids, and no-one to teach them because you just fired all your staff. C'mon, people, wake up. We can say we're going to get tough, but I'm telling you that you've gotten just about as tough on your teachers as you can possibly get... all the while coddling our kids and telling them it's not their fault, and removing expectations from parents. I have a kid who I've probably seen less than ten times this year because her mom just won't make her come to school. HELLO!?!? Can we find a grownup somewhere? Anywhere?
Eventually this system is going to collapse under the weight of misplaced expectations.
In the meantime, however, I plan to have as much impact as I can on the individuals I come in contact with TODAY. It's all I can do. Let the politicos wrangle back and forth; there are kids right here in my classroom right now who need me, and I can't be bothered with whatever the latest scheme is to make US schools appear successful. Yes, I'll jump through their hoops as best I can, and then I'll keep teaching.
As an aside, it's interesting to me that I'm probably spending everything I make at this job just trying to fulfill the requirements so I can keep this job... even though I am a college-educated person with a teaching degree. Ever wonder why they can't keep teachers? It costs too durn much to work here.
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