Principal, teacher clash on cheating

[tonysam]

It's amazing this teacher has lasted 41 years. Make sure to read the comments following the article.

Last week’s column, full of practical suggestions on how to limit cheating, did not seem controversial to me. Many teachers sent their own ideas. Many recommended small adjustments, such as having the questions in different order for different students, to hinder copying.

So I was surprised to hear from Erich Martel, an Advanced Placement U.S. History teacher at Wilson High School in the District, that his principal, Peter Cahall, was critical of him doing that.

...

During one post-evaluation conference Martel told Cahall what he did to frustrate cheating when students are so close together. He created two versions of the same test by putting the pages in different sequences, a method many teachers endorse. He showed Cahall a quiz on which he printed the questions in a smaller font, making them harder to read from the next chair over.

These struck Martel as useful methods in a high school--like nearly all high schools--where many students will cheat if given a chance. He was startled when Cahall expressed a different view.

“You are creating an expectation that students will cheat,” Martel recalls Cahall saying. “By creating that expectation, they will rise to your expectation.”

Par for the course for dipshit principals.

Note this in the comments from WP writer Jay Mathews:

For edlharris: Here is Erich Martel's account of how he got his AP classes back. (He did lose them for a year. I forgot that part.)------

The principal would not change his mind. Supt. Janey refused to intervene,
thus distancing himself from what was "the principal's decision" - even
though he had authorized the IG investigation that ultimately confirmed my
reports, when finally released in April 2007. As a result, I did not
teach AP courses for the school year 2006-07. It was widely understood to
be retaliation, though that was denied. It felt like a public slap in the
face.

Most of my colleagues viewed this as an attempt to humiliate me and force
me to resign/retire. Since I am a teacher first and an AP teacher second,
and since my reports of manipulated records were made with the intention of
correcting management abuses, which I intended to see through to
resolution, it would have set a very bad example, if I had just quit when
the going got a bit rough. And there was no way I could betray the
tremendous moral support I received from my colleagues and from many
parents and students.

It created a division in the school and department. Worst of all, it made
it impossible to establish the collaboration that would have existed, had
the sections been shared. The teacher who replaced me, nonetheless, did an excellent job. In June
2007, Dr. Tarason suddenly announced his retirement. Jackie Williams was
appointed Interim Principal as Wilson entered its year of restructuring
planning. She assigned me to teach two AP US History sections, which I
have continued to teach along with other social studies subjects since then.

Erich

Washington Post

[LiberalFighter]

1. Where did Cahall receive his degree? Regent University?