High-stakes accountability policies have brought about significant change in schools, but have also triggered instances of cheating and gaming at school and district levels. This undisguised case study involves the El Paso Independent School District, one of its high schools, and a popular principal accused of cheating. This context provides the…

The cheating scandal that has rocked the 48,000-student Atlanta school system was an egregious, but not entirely unexpected, byproduct of accountability pressures, many testing experts say. The reason: As long as test scores are used in any field to make decisions on rewards or punishments, including for schools or educators, a small percentage of…

In a speech, Boston University (Massachusetts) president Jon Westling used "Somnolent Samantha" as an example of potential for student abuse of identification as learning disabled. Because Samantha was fictitious, 10 students have sued the university, charging Westling with holding an unfair view of students with learning disabilities.…