Search

We develop an algorithm for detecting teacher cheating that combines information on unexpected test score fluctuations and suspicious patterns of answers for students in a classroom. Using data from the Chicago Public Schools, we estimate that serious cases of teacher or administrator cheating on standardized tests occur in a minimum of 4-5 percent of elementary school classrooms annually. Moreover, the observed frequency of cheating appears to respond strongly to relatively minor changes in incentives. Our results highlight the fact that incentive systems, especially those with bright line rules, often induce behavioral distortions such as cheating. Statistical analysis, however, may provide a means of detecting illicit acts, despite the best attempts of perpetrators to keep them clandestine.

We offer evidence that legalized abortion has contributed significantly to recent crime reductions. Crime began to fall roughly 18 years after abortion legalization. The 5 states that allowed abortion in 1970 experienced declines earlier than the rest of the nation, which legalized in 1973 with Roe v. Wade. States with high abortion rates in the 1970s and 1980s experienced greater crime reductions in the 1990s. In high abortion states, only arrests of those born after abortion legalization fall relative to low abortion states. Legalized abortion appears to account for as much as 50 percent of the recent drop in crime.

Joyce's failure to uncover a negative relationship between crime and abortion was because of his decision to concentrate on a non-representative six-year period. Evidence supporting the claims that the crack-cocaine epidemic hit the high-abortion early-legalizing states earlier and more severely than other states of the U.S in 1970 is presented.

On average, black students typically score one standard deviation below white students on standardized tests--roughly the difference in performance between the average 4th grader and the average 8th grader. Historically, what has come to be known as the black-white test-score gap has emerged before children enter kindergarten and has tended to widen over time. Gaining a better understanding of what causes the test-score gap is of great importance because eliminating the gap could yield great advances in the well-being of African-Americans. To take a fresh look at the gap and its sources, the authors examined a new data set, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort, compiled by the U.S. Department of Education. The results are quite surprising: after adjusting the data for the effects of only a few observable characteristics, the black-white test-score gap in math and reading for students entering kindergarten essentially disappeared. Put simply, white and black children with similar personal and family background characteristics achieved similar test scores. Once students enter school, however, the gap between white and black children grows, even after controlling for observable influences. The authors speculate that blacks are losing ground relative to whites because they attend lower-quality schools that are less well maintained and managed as indicated by signs of social discord. Though they recognize that they have not provided definitive proof, this is the only hypothesis that receives any empirical support. (Contains 2 figures.)

This article describes the results of a three-year investigation into cheating by school personnel. The goals of this research were to measure the prevalence of cheating by teachers and administrators and to analyze the factors that predict cheating. Using data on test scores and student records from the Chicago Public Schools, the authors developed a statistical algorithm to identify classrooms where cheating was suspected. This method depends on two hallmarks of potential cheating: unexpected fluctuations in students' test scores and unusual patterns of answers for students within a classroom. The results of this study demonstrate the value of statistical analysis to school districts interested in catching cheaters or deterring future cheating. While evidence of cheating is sometimes used to impugn high-stakes testing programs, the results actually show that explicit cheating by school personnel is not likely to be a serious enough problem by itself to call into question high-stakes testing, both because the most egregious forms of cheating are relatively rare and, more important, because cheating could be virtually eliminated at a relatively low cost through the implementation of proper safeguards, such as those used by the Educational Testing Service on the SAT or GRE exams. (Contains 2 figures.)

Describes the results of a 3-year investigation into cheating by school personnel in Chicago and the design of a technique that will help to bring the problem under better control. The goals of the research were to measure the prevalence of cheating by teachers and administrators and to analyze the factors that predict cheating. (MLF)