Reading Log

Name: Date: Log #: Sample

Title: To Catch a Cheat Author: Peg Tyre
Source: Newsweek Publication Date: 10/15/2007
Word count: 659 Paragraph count: 7
Minutes spent reading: 35 Times read: 3

Key Vocabulary:
1. crib an answer - cheat
2. data forensics - computer analysis of test results
3. get busted - get caught
4. inevitable - unavoidable, bound to happen
5. jarring - shocking, surprising in a negative way
Summary (5 sentences)
Rather than motivate students and teachers to reach higher levels of
academic achievement, the No Child Left Behind law seems to have inspired
widespread cheating. The pressure to raise standardized test scores is so great
that some teachers and administrators are attempting to manipulate the results
by doing things such as providing answer lists or giving students actual tests to
study. This negative trend has benefited a company called Caveon Test Security.
It computer analyzes answer sheets for suspicious patterns that may suggest
cheating. To eliminate scoring scandals, the author suggests strict testing
procedures must be defined and reinforced in each state.

Reaction (5 sentences)
This article made me ask many questions about the U.S educational system.

First, has the NCLB law had any positive effects and have they been
documented? Second, are the schools in some communities operating at such a
resource deficit that students have no hope of achieving the minimum standards
for their grade? Finally, I wonder if cheating has multiplied among students and
teachers in the last decade. Perhaps our educational system emphasizes the
learning result at the sacrifice of the learning process, and academic integrity is
not valued as much as beating the system.

Material from Marjorie Allen

ESL/Linguistics, Harper College