More teachers accused of cheating

A growing number of teachers are facing accusations of improperly helping students on MCAS exams, according to new data from the state, reflecting what education analysts say is the pressure some educators feel to boost test scores.

The Department of Education documented 15 cases of teacher improprieties on the 2006 exams, such as allowing students to use dictionaries or stealing a test booklet, compared with three such allegations last year. By contrast, the number of cheating allegations against students dropped from 31 last year to 19 in 2006. Overall, the number of alleged improprieties stayed the same at 34.

The increase in testing improprieties involving teachers does not surprise national education and testing specialists, who say cheating among teachers has been on the rise because of mounting pressure to boost students' scores. Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, schools can be penalized for consistently low test scores. The pressure on teachers may only increase in Massachusetts, which is developing a system to link students' performance on the MCAS to individual teachers.

``There are teeth in the No Child Left Behind legislation that are being felt by teachers," said Katherine K. Merseth, director of Harvard's teacher education program. ``Teachers don't respect the measure itself, the MCAS . . . They're helping a child on a test they see as meaningless."

State education officials say they think cheating is not widespread among Massachusetts teachers based on the recent data, and they are not concerned by the rise in allegations of teacher impropriety. They say it points to schools' heightened awareness to report possible cheating.

The state said school systems are still investigating the bulk of the allegations against teachers, which range from minor mistakes in test administration to cheating. The state would not detail the cases under investigation. The number of reported incidents in Massachusetts is minuscule given the 1.2 million tests administered in the spring and the 70,000 licensed educators in the state, state officials said.

``We can't really say what is behind each of these incidents," said Kit Viator, the state's director of student assessment. ``We're talking about just a tiny number of cases. Districts, to their credit, are being very forthright."

The state requires school systems to investigate improprieties, and teachers can lose their credentials if they cheat or fail to report an incident of cheating. Of the four cases the state has resolved, the incidents have been deemed minor, and no teachers have lost their licenses. Student responses on certain test questions were invalidated, state officials said.

At Andover West Middle School, a sixth-grade teacher was reprimanded for reviewing a student's answer booklet during a reading test and returning it to the student for more work, according to state officials. The teacher thought the student's responses were not long enough. The state, however, prohibits test proctors from reviewing or commenting on student responses.

Andover Superintendent Claudia Bach said the teacher was forthcoming when confronted by the principal and said the teacher did not realize what she did was wrong. Bach said there was no extensive verbal exchange between the teacher and the student, and that the teacher was not providing answers to the student. The principal reported the incident to the state immediately and removed the teacher from supervising MCAS tests last spring. The teacher has been retrained in testing protocol.

``The teacher was really quite mortified and bothered that this had happened," Bach said.

In another case of educator impropriety, a fifth-grade reading test booklet was stolen from a locked closet at the Pentucket Lake Elementary School in Haverhill and mailed anonymously to the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, which notified the state. The Essex district attorney is investigating the theft.

The other two cases, which the state has resolved, involved teachers in New Bedford and Peabody allowing students to use dictionaries on portions of the English test that prohibit dictionaries.

Incidents of cheating by teachers and other educators have been reported in New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Virginia, and Maryland in recent months, according to Robert Schaeffer, public education director for the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, based in Cambridge.

``People feel that their jobs and reputations are on the line, and under pressure. Some people feel they have no choice but to otherwise do something that is unethical," Schaeffer said.

There's no way to know how widespread cheating could be in Massachusetts, which, like many states, does not systematically check tests for cheating.

Anne Wass , president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said the teacher-related cases, without more details from the state, could be innocent mistakes that arose from inadequate training. Massachusetts teachers don't have a clear incentive to cheat, given their evaluations are not linked to test scores, she said.

Students, however, must pass the MCAS to graduate.

Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com.