Gee, ya think?

Rochester school board asks why kids saw social studies exam questions early
David Andreatta • Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle Staff writer
July 22, 2008

Backpedaling under pressure from its board, the Rochester School District announced Monday that it would investigate why thousands of seventh- and eighth-grade students were prepped for their final social studies exams last month with dozens of questions that appeared on the actual tests.

District officials had initially defended the practice of sharing exam questions with students in advance, calling it a legitimate form of test preparation. But that prompted Board of Education members and the teachers union to call for an investigation of the matter and the district's testing review protocol.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. You will never have 100% of your students succeed at anything. Threats, money, bribes, "rewards", 2014 be damned. If any school shows dramatic and sudden improvement then you have one of three things:

1. School cheated.
2. Students cheated.
3. Test is too easy.

People generally don't cheat on tests that don't count to them. That means students don't bother but teachers might. "A legitimate form of test preparation," my butt. Not even a good CYA.