Jay Matthews does not believe the investigation of the DC cheating scandal is credible.
The DC Inspector General concluded that nothing much happened. He confined his investigation to one school only. He didn’t investigate any other schools.
Matthews writes:
Now we know who did it. D.C. Inspector General Charles J. Willoughby has concluded his 16-month probe of cheating on the D.C. schools’ annual tests by saying that kids, not adults, made the astonishing number of wrong-to-right erasures found on answer sheets.
Never mind that testing companies, academic experts and veteran teachers say that students almost never make more than one or two wrong-to-right erasures per test. Ignore the fact that in Atlanta, where there were similar volumes of erasures on 2009 tests, state investigators with subpoena power found 178 principals and teachers had changed the answers.
DC schools chancellor Kaya Henderson (Matt McClain – The Washington Post)After Willoughby’s investigators visited only one school, Crosby S. Noyes Education Campus, he endorsed their conclusion that since the adults at that school seemed innocent of changing answers, none of the adults at dozens of other schools with massive erasures could be guilty either. The investigation is over, in part because Willoughby, allegedly immune to influence from interested parties, let D.C. school chancellor Kaya Henderson persuade him that schools she thought were great should not be examined.
It’s hard to believe this inquiry will end when the findings, on their face, make no sense.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
When Michelle Rhee appeared with Arne Dumbcan, on stage at some elite function, with arms around each other (while she’s being investigated for cheating), I knew this investigation would turn up zilch. I wonder how much money the investigative teach took under the table?
Rheefer Madness …
That’s a great one!
A DCPS lesson to parents, teachers and children. Cheaters prosper. What a lesson. Too bad you lose and you were deceived by bogus test scores. So sorry you were incorrectly placed. Too bad you didn’t get the tutoring Federal law demanded. Yes-we at DCPS failed you and so did your teachers. Sorry but it was only one school.
By the way, what about that incentive and bonus money that was awarded to the staff. Will DCPS seek to recover it, and if not- why not?
And to think Wayne was a lawyer. I wonder if there’s any talk of disbarment hearings. It would certainly be difficult for him to find legal work after this. And for what? A test. A lousy test. That in the grand scheme of things means absolutely nothing. I’m Just glad my parents, DCPS old-school teachers and neighbors helped raise me right.
Certainly is the message from the top (banksters) all the way down to the kids in school. When the folks at the bottom figure out the game is fixed, why wouldn’t they cheat?
I know! In the tradition of all good deformers, if 80% of the tests in a school were suspect, then 80% of the staff should be fired. Then they could fill the whole darn school with highly effective TFA teachers. Replace any non-Broad administrators, and we have a guaranteed recipe for success!
“Yet the Inspector General’s report, quoting no erasure experts, concluded that… blah blah blah…”
‘Scuse me…. did Jay say “erasure experts”?
Now that sounds like a job for the 21st century! When I grow up, I wanna be an erasure expert! I bet it’s real fulfilling and pays good too!
Nice work if you can get it. Another tough day at the office checking on erasures.
This article goes into some detail about “test forensics” (yes, it has a name) that goes on in PA. The forensic experts are called in when ever a school shows a ‘spike’ in their test scores. Apparently, that is enough to warrant an investigation…Apparently, public schools are not expected to demonstrate improved scores. Apparently, the fix is in. One of the schools mentioned is Pennsbury Shool District…and excellent educational program with a long legacy of high student achievement, demanding coursework and high rates of college acceptances. They also were investigated. One gets the impression that the PA DOE i just waiting for school districts to go belly up…any that don’t are held in suspect. Remeber the ‘hanging chad’ lunacy in the Bush-Gore election?….
Well, hold onto your hat…here come the DOE ‘bubble inspectors”!
http://articles.philly.com/2011-07-16/news/29780910_1_pssa-results-charter-schools-proficient-score
Another article on PA DOE forensic investigations. What they look for.
http://articles.philly.com/2012-03-11/news/31145463_1_city-charter-schools-vanguard-schools-education-secretary-ronald-tomalis
The truth is that this is what happens when you threaten to hurt people. There should be an investigation to better look at this problem and what caused it. Not to hate.
Fraud, fraud and more fraud. To paraphrase Claude Rains in Casablanca, “I’m shocked, shocked…” I just wonder if Arne over at DoEd will do the same or better.You have to wonder.
I don’t know why it’s starting to feel that educational administrative… ineptitude + laziness + corruption = reform. I have been steeped in it for over a year now, and it’s… smelly.
Matthews has been a shill for Rhee, KIPP and privatization for years: is he finally realizing he’s been hustled, and laying down a marker for defending hmself when this house of cards comes tumbling down?
100 schools were flagged, they decided to investigate (and scapegoat) one. Take a look at the Georgia cheating investigation for the gold standard of how these things should be done.
We need a very public petition demanding a credible investigation of the Rhee test scandal. The whitewash investigation is a disgrace. Can someone pls draft a petition detailing the failure to investigate and calling on Duncan to fulfill his responsibilities as education sec’y?
Does anyone know what credibility is anymore?
Erase to the Top is the new Federal program to improve test scores!!
There you go playing the erase card again.
The fact that the above is called an investigation is laughable. One can expect to see more and more fraud uncovered if all “of us” keep searching for the truth. I fully intend to do my part and demand data from state, county and local officials in my area. If, and when this information is not supplied, then I will expose, one way or the other the hoax. It was not stated in this blog if the schools in questions were charter/choice/voucher shcools. This is important for reporting purposes.