IMHO this should lead to a whole lot of criminal charges. How will those kids recoup the time lost? Time they could have been getting help in whatever subject they needed it in, but they didn’t because they were told they were doing fine.
This is disgusting, for many reasons.
I’m speechless.
Welcome to the Culture of Assessment. Merely doing your job is no longer enough. Now you must find some objective way of measuring student progress (but not grades! Too subjective). Your funding is dependent on not only doing well, but showing improvement.
I despise the dishonesty and I feel for the students, but I can’t say I’m shocked. It’s the same culture that produced Enron, etc.; cooking the books for financial gain is apparently morally acceptable to a small but powerful minority, who can influence the culture at their place of work, be it financial brokerage or school system. With all the school systems in the country that have these high-stakes tests with financial strings attached, I’d be really surprised if this were the only example.
If it’s not a tiny minority, please don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.
PS: My own experience with assessment at the college level is neutral to positive, so it’s not the assessment itself I have a problem with. It’s the strings attached and people who let fear and /or greed lead them into doing harm to others.