Teaching Children to Cheat

It’s big news that nationally recognized Superintendent Beverly Hall and 34 teachers from Atlanta, Georgia have been indicted on charges of altering test scores to give the false impression that the school system is on the rise. Apparently, this is the “tip of the iceberg” of an ongoing pattern of teachers “cheating” and altering test scores. As we learn what has happened, let’s consider how it affects our children. Further, let’s consider the commonalities between what happened in Georgia and the national homework debate.

The news seems to focus on the financial incentives that came to Superintendent Hall at the expense of the children. Perhaps, that explains her behavior, but I doubt that it tells the whole story. In general, people of good virtue, teachers and parents, don’t generally lie unless they’re boxed into a corner and asked to do something they cannot do. This is true for teachers who work under the dictates of No Child Left Behind, The Race to the Top, and the Common Core curriculum. It is also true for parents who are pressured by teachers, who might fail their children, if they don’t get their homework done.

The most fundamental building block of education is the relationship between the student and the teacher.  Even before they go to school, children have learned a lot from their parents. They learn through instruction and they learn by modeling: modeling their parents and then modeling their teachers. If we tell teachers to put their judgments aside and, instead, teach to the tests, this will elevate those tests to a level of importance that far exceeds what those tests were meant to do. In the process some teachers will cheat, and the lesson they teach is that it’s okay to cheat.

If we tell parents that their children will get zeros if they don’t do their homework, and give them failing grades (50%) when they get it half done, we essentially strip those parents of the power to decide, leaving them feeling boxed in. If the child does half the work, the parent may do the rest. So what does the child learn? That parents are helpless and that it’s okay to cheat.

What happened in Atlanta is awful. But what is happening with our systems is also quite bad. We have abandoned the core of education, the personal relationship between the mentor and the mentee, by allowing outside influences to determine what must be done. Teachers need authority in the class. Tests should offer measures that the teacher can look at and use. They should not be the basis on which one decides how and what to teach.

Similarly, parents need recognition as the rightful leaders of their own homes. Teachers can give assignments. Parents must be the ones who ultimately decide what should be done, and what can slide.

If we don’t make these adjustments, we will continue to see desperate educators altering the results, and desperate parents doing homework for their children. So why should we be surprised when children lack values and feels it’s okay to cheat and lie?


_{For more information on Dr. Goldberg's model, read other postings on this blog, visit his website, The Homework Trap, or read his book, The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.} 

Recent Study Giving Some Support for Homework

There is a new study regarding the effects of homework on performance in math and science (When is Homework Worth the Time? Evaluating the Association Between Homeworkand Achievement  in High School Scienceand Math). The study measures homework by the amount of time spent doing it and shows little association between homework and grades, but a positive correlation between homework and standardized test scores. The study has made the rounds in the homework debate with different people weighing in with different points of view. The study is featured in this morning’s Washington Post Education blog.

As a homework critic, my first inclination is to look at the study to see how it is wrong or to discount it as relevant to the homework debate. Perhaps, it overemphasizes test performance, already a topic of controversy and debate. But I’ll resist that natural inclination and take a different stance. Perhaps, it’s true. Perhaps, homework has value and perhaps this is what it does, raises scores on standardized tests. If so, it does not alter some basic tenets of my model, TheHomework Trap.

First, teachers need to be educated in the theory, research and practice of homework. I have yet to see a course in a catalog of a school of education titled “Homework.” I peruse teacher websites and blogs and find a dearth of scholarly discussion on the topic of homework. In 2006, I participated on Etta Kralovec’s homework panel at the American Educational Research Association’s annual conference (the largest educational conference in the country each year). There was Dr. Kralovec’s panel (which I understand was the first such panel the conference had), and, if I recall right, a couple of papers on research studies by Professor Harris Cooper’s students. That was it! Although this conference covered a wide range of issues for the teaching profession, it left the topic of homework, virtually undiscussed.

Second, there is the issue of parental authority. When I was a youth, my parents could have sent me to a Stanley Kaplan course to prepare for the SATs. They did not, and I did okay. My wife and I did not send our children to such courses, although she did spend time with our oldest son reviewing a list of “SAT Hot Words.” Whether or not we should teach to the test, during time at home, to give a child a “leg up” is questionable. But the point is, parents make voluntary decisions on their children’s behalf, all the time, whether it involves tutoring, learning centers, scouting, music lessons, religious studies, or simply some relaxed time playing a family game.

So, rather than jump on one side or the other regarding this recent research study, I’ll respond with a shrug of the shoulder and think “that’s interesting,” in the back of my mind. But let’s get back to the two, fundamental issues we need to know about homework.

1. If homework is given, teachers need to be trained in the technique.
2. As an activity that traverses the boundaries between school and home, regardless of homework’s value, parents must be recognized as the final decision-makers and the natural heads of their own homes.

*****

Dr. Kenneth Goldberg, is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Teachers, and Students, published by Wyndmoor Press.

 I recommend giving copies of the book to the teachers at your child's school. Discount purchases are available through Wyndmoor Press. Single copies can be purchased at Amazon.