英语作文how to elimmate academic cheating

　　Over the past three academic years, the National Center for Fair & Open Testing has confirmed cases of standardized test cheating in 32 states and the District of Columbia (see attached list) The root cause of this epidemic is clear from in-depth investigations into some of the most egregious scandals Misuse of standardized tests mandated by public officials has created a climate in which increasing numbers of educators feel they have no choice but to cross ethical lines
　　If the US Department of Education is serious about its commitment to assessment integrity, it must act to reduce test cheating by stopping promotion of test score misuse
　　Despite their high-sounding statements about assessment reform, President Obama and Secretary Duncan are adding incentives for cheating by ratcheting up the emphasis on standardized exams scores through initiatives such as “Race to the Top” and their criteria for states to receive waivers from “No Child Left Behind” The continued emphasis on annual high-stakes annual testing in these programs and, especially, new requirements to assess teachers based on their students’ scores virtually guarantees even more cheating will take place
　　The administration’s favored policies also contradict the findings and recommendations of “Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education,” the important report released last year by the National Research Council of the National Academies of Science That study’s distinguished panel of experts concluded that high-stakes testing has not improved educational quality
　　Widespread cheating is an inevitable consequence of overuses of high-stakes testing, as predicted by renowned social scientist Donald Campbell In 1976 he wrote in what is now called Campbell’s Law, “The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor when test scores become the goal of the teaching process, they both lose their value as indicators of educational status and distort the educational process in undesirable ways”
　　Recent examinations of major outbreaks of cheating confirm the accuracy of Campbell’s prediction In Atlanta, Georgia, for example, the Governor’s Bureau of Investigation found that test score misuse was amajor reason for why cheating occurred They wrote, “The targets were often unreasonable, especially given their cumulative effect over the years Additionally, the administration put unreasonable pressure on teachers and principals to achieve targets ultimately, the data and meeting ‘targets’ by whatever means necessary, became more important than true academic progress”
　　In their report on the Dougherty County System, the Georgia Special Investigators identified similar causes In the section titled “Why Cheating Occurred,” the investigators cite No Child Left Behind’s “pressure to meet AYP targets” as “a significant motivation for cheating” finding, “This pressure drives some individuals to cross ethical lines” They concluded, “Since the enactment of NCLB, standardized testing has become more about measuring the teachers, principals and schools than accurately assessing the children’s academic progress”
　　In terms of “best practices” for detecting and responding to testing irregularities, there is no need for a massive federal study The reports by the Georgia Office of Special Investigators examining cheating in Atlanta area schools are a model for policy-maker response A comprehensive review by independent law enforcement professionals — not politicians or bureaucrats who may have vested interests in protecting current policies and personnel — is necessary Combined with the use of the full range of forensic detection tools — including analyses for high numbers of erasures, unusual score gains, and patterns of similar responses — this approach has proven most likely to root out the full truth
　　More policing and better after-the-fact investigations will not, however, solve the many problems caused by the politically motivated misuses of standardized exam scores Instead, high-stakes testing requirements must end because they cheat students out of a high-quality education and cheat the public out of accurate information about school quality