Personal Narrative: Fraud At Anson Elementary School

In the beginning of October, I received a new fourth grade student named Adrian. Adrian came from a rural school district in Iowa, where he had attended since he was six years old. Within the first week of Adrian’s arrival at Anson Elementary, he was performing grade levels below his peers.
His school records did not arrive until two weeks after his start date in October. When looking at his records, it stated on his 2015-16 Iowa Assessments that he was on grade level for math and reading. His report card gave “not proficient” levels for all content areas. Adrian had no records of receiving special education services, but did receive Title services. He also received services for being an English Language Learner. In Adrian’s records,
According to The Atlantic, an American Magazine located in Boston, Massachusetts, stated that teachers have cheated on high-stake student assessments. The article focused on the conviction of 11 Atlanta, Georgia educators who had involvement to alter student test scores. There was also a two-year-long investigation that found almost 180 educators and three dozen principals that manipulated student’s performance scores in at least 44 schools. “The State’s investigation into the data from Georgia’s standardized tests in reading, language arts, and math concluded that thousands of children were harmed because they were denied remedial education they might have needed but failed to qualify for because of their inflated CRCT scores.”

(Ross Terrance F., Wong, Alia. “When Teachers Cheat” The Atlantic. Apr 2, 2015.)

All Iowa Assessment tests have over twenty questions per section. For each question on Iowa Assessment, there are four answers to choose from, which means there is a 25% chance to guess correctly. For a student to guess correctly for majority of the questions is a slim chance. As my administrator stated, that Adrian guessed really well on the test could be accurate but very slim.
For me to assume that I could skip through steps of the GEI process is not valid thinking. According to Sam Peske, AEA 267 special education consultant, a student to be considered for
There is pressure to meet a certain standard of achievement for students. Going through the critical reflection, I learned that helping others is key but the process needs to be done correctly. Educators cannot take loop-holes or shortcuts

APPLICATIONS:

Step 1: Working with Adrian this past year has definitely helped my grow personally. I am reminded to do what’s right now matter the work or consequences. My strive to help others has gone beyond the needs at school. I feel the need to connect with community members in my district that are not familiar of their rights and how to access proper resources.
I also feel that I have grown professionally, as well. I now have a stronger need to communicate with parents on how their child is learning and behaving in school. I use to only communicate when there was an issue at school, but now I feel that parents need to know more on what is happening in education.

Step 2: When I read the article, “When Teachers Cheat,” from The Atlantic, I was reminded that corruption does happen and it does exist. I understand there are pressures in education, but I know in the future I will continue to advocate for my students. By advocating, I will find the right resources to meet the needs of all my students. Each student that enters into my classroom deserves to receive the best education