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Posted on 11/25/2012 8:48:05 AM PST by Uncle Chip
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — It was a brazen and surprisingly long-lived scheme, authorities said, to help aspiring public school teachers cheat on the tests they must pass to prove they are qualified to lead their classrooms.
For 15 years, teachers in three Southern states paid Clarence Mumford Sr. — himself a longtime educator — to send someone else to take the tests in their place, authorities said. Each time, Mumford received a fee of between $1,500 and $3,000 to send one of his test ringers with fake identification to the Praxis exam.
.......
Mumford faces more than 60 fraud and conspiracy charges that claim he created fake driver's licenses with the information of a teacher or an aspiring teacher and attached the photograph of a test-taker. Prospective teachers are accused of giving Mumford their Social Security numbers for him to make the fake identities.
The hired-test takers went to testing centers, showed the proctor the fake license, and passed the certification exam, prosecutors say. Then, the aspiring teacher used the test score to secure a job with a public school district, the indictment alleges. Fourteen people have been charged with mail and Social Security fraud, and four people have pleaded guilty to charges associated with the scheme.
Mumford "obtained tens of thousands of dollars" during the alleged conspiracy, which prosecutors say lasted from 1995 to 2010 in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Among those charged is former University of Tennessee and NFL wide receiver Cedrick Wilson, who is accused of employing a test-taker for a Praxis physical education exam. He was charged in late October with four counts of Social Security and mail fraud. He has pleaded not guilty and is out of jail on a $10,000 bond. He has been suspended by the Memphis City Schools system.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
When Clinton’s lie became a joke...why worry?
I went to a doctor once. Obviously they asked for ID, but they also took a picture of me. Wouldn’t it be nice if the people administering these tests also could find a way to take a nice, pretty, picture of each stand-in, sorry, I mean future teacher.
“Prosecutors and standardized test experts...”
Johnny, what do you want to be when you grow up.
(in a high-pitched voice) “I want to be a Standardized Test Expert”.
If people want to know why this country is sinking by the day, one only has to look at career options...like this one.
“Teachers from Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee and Mississippi took tests through PHILANDER Smith College...” (emphasis mine)
No, NOTHING in that name suggests cheating. One has to be an ABSOLUTE IDIOT to even believe a college with that name exists - much less accept any test scores coming from them.
“If I may suggest this....you might as well find a fairly smart 20-year old who finished up two years at a community college and has a math-science type degree....to teach strictly math at your local school, and pay the guy a starting pay of $32k a year, and he’d be awful happy. For the next twenty years, the kids would all get a real math professional instead of some ‘educational-degree’ individual.”
...and if we GOT RID OF UNIONS for teachers, then your kid could get a job and be a big help to hundreds (or thousands) of others trying to learn those subjects.
(I’m just guessing it’s your kid)
The saddest thing is that Mr. Munford apparently is smart enough to pass these tests each time. It’s a shame he didn’t stick to teaching - because he seems to be one of the few with a brain in that profession.
Mississippi ping
What I mean is hire real educated people based on actual GPAs and pay them as one would pay a newly graduated engineer (for example). Also, give them yearly evaluations by people who see their actual work (most principals never see what a teacher is like on a day to day basis in the classroom). Fire them when they don't perform to standards and no tenure! In addition, let people go to the schools that have the best reputation or put out the best (most qualified) product (educated students). Honest to goodness competition would go a long way towards creating better schools.
As I said, if our education system was run like a business, I think we would have top notch students!
My neighbor’s daughter graduated with a degree in biology and is now teaching science at a local middle school. She had to take 6 weeks of training first in how to be a teacher and the responsibilities of her position. I hope they did not ruin her in the process.
That is outright theft and fraud.
The legacy of Willie “Hump ‘em” Harrington.
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