By Gary Rubinstein, Special to CNN

Editor’s Note:  Gary Rubinstein is a high school math teacher and the author of two guidebooks for new teachers, “Reluctant Disciplinarian” and “Beyond Survival.”  He is also a two-time recipient of the Math for America Master Teacher Fellowship. He blogs at http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org

In a recent investigation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution analyzed data from nearly 70,000 schools and found indications of standardized test cheating in as many as 200 districts.  When a school tampers with standardized tests, certain people benefit while others suffer.  The principal of the cheating school might get a bonus, while the honest school might get shut down.

Though test tampering is bad, I have examined eight other common types of cheating for my blog that I believe are even worse.

No. 1

In my opinion, a huge cheat that would cost nearly nothing to fix is the way some charter schools claim they get miraculous results with the “same kids” as the “failing” public schools down the road.  Studying the newly released New York City teacher data reports,  I found strong evidence that some charters in New York have incoming students who are a bit above average.  Not only that, but the improvements achieved with those students were also merely average. This cheat helps some charter school CEOs get rich, but that money comes at the expense of the public school that unnecessarily loses its funding.  All schools should have to accurately publish information on their incoming students, including prior academic achievement.
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