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Teachers Accused of Cheating
Source: New York Times
August 17,2000
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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- At least 52 teachers from five states cheated on their
competency tests by paying $1,000 bribes
to exam supervisors for extra time and help with the answers, officials say.
The teachers from Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas
are accused of taking part in the scheme at Philander Smith College in Little
Rock, Ark.
The test, required of teachers in 34 states to gain certification, involves a four-hour
general knowledge examination and a survey of the candidate's subject matter.
"It's a terrible violation," Mississippi Superintendent of Education Richard Thompson
said Thursday.
Philander Smith President Trudie Kibbe Reed said a former school employee who
worked for the college when the alleged violations occurred in 1998 ran the testing scam.
"It is a crime when the integrity of our institution is compromised by one person's
greed and lack of loyalty to the mission of our campus," said Reed.
The test is administered by New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service.
The nonprofit company said it began an investigation after noticing questionable tests
that may have involved fraud or cheating. The service then turned over all evidence to
the FBI in Little Rock, which conducted a more lengthy investigation over the course
of a year.
The teachers all have had their test scores canceled by the testing service, said spokesman
Kevin Gonzalez said. The service said more teachers are expected to have their scores
challenged during the ongoing investigation.
It is up to education departments in the five states to decide what happens to the teachers.
The teachers could be fired or barred from teaching again.
The FBI is expected to announce formal charges against ETS and the college employee,
Thompson said.
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Commentary from
The Doctor
The Romans had a saying, "who guards the guards?"
This holds equally true today when we have to
question the ethics, integrity and motivations of those
who are appointed to care for and educate our children.
If the desired moral character and motivations of
an individual are lacking, it suddenly really doesn't matter
how many competency tests, aptitude tests, interviews or
background checks were conducted. This person should
never have been hired.
The trouble is we are all too ready to accept people at
face value. While we question ability and references,
we seldom see the real person before us. How do
we reach behind the facade for a true picture of the
person into whose hands we are about to entrust a future
generation?
Before spending money and time on reference checks,
before testing ability or competency, ensure that
teachers have the personality and essential characteristics
to inspire socially acceptable ethics and moral character in their
charges.
Before "the integrity of our institution is compromised
by one person's greed and lack of loyalty," check that
their values match the mission of a campus.
Before hiring mistakes are made, students, parents and
faculty disrupted, before government agencies are called
in and national headlines displayed, before all this...
...conduct a behavioral evaluation and know who guards
our future.
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Served in the U.S. Air Force as a jet fighter pilot, David Pearson is a noted behavioral scientist. David Pearson was a contributing author of the EEOC's Uniform
Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures and also contributed to the Tower Amendment to Title VII.12. As a nationally
recognized authority on employment practices and behavioral tendency profiling, Dr. Pearson has been quoted in publications
from Newsweek to The Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Pearson has been retained as an expert witness for the successful defense of major companies including Adolph Coors,
Frontier Airlines, the City and County of Denver, Detroit Edison, and Martin Marietta. David Pearson has earned a Master of
Science and a Doctorate in Psychology. He has also received extensive legal training, and has considerable experience in statistics
and research methodology. Today, Dr. Pearson continues to make valuable contributions to MindData's business -- including
development of all new MindData products and contribution of frequent articles and insights to the MindData web site.
The opinions expressed in articles by this author do not necessarily represent
the opinions of MindData. These articles are provided as a means of informing
you of current events and opinions that impact employers and the workplace.
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