Great Moments In Education

From the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch:
Columbus schools officials say they are moving to fire four principals today after a state audit called out a culture of fraud and intimidation in the district's data reporting.
State Auditor Dave Yost released the findings of his 18-month-long investigation this morning. Student-data tampering within Columbus City Schools was systemic, he found. The worst of it happened in high schools. And he's recommending that some people face criminal charges.
"This is a story of tears and sadness," the auditor said in a news release. "A culture existed in Columbus schools in which staff at all levels believed data needed to be manipulated or they would face negative consequences to their careers."
The data changes were led, the auditor said, by the district's data czar, Steve Tankovich and by Michael Dodds, an administrator who oversaw a group of schools.
Tankovich specifically instructed principals to change their data to improve report cards, Yost said....
Among the auditor's findings:
* Unusually high numbers of grade changes were made by a few individuals, including one person at Marion Franklin who made 662. A total of 1,796 grades were changed from an F -- failing, to a D -- passing. "This is not what you'd expect to see in the real world absent somebody deliberately making changes," Yost said.
One administrator, Stanley K. Pyle, had a motto, Yost said: "D them up."
* 'Zombie' seniors. Dozens of students were listed as seniors but weren't taking classes.

* There was no documentation that students who were enrolled in online credit recovery were completing classes.

* Auditors found no documentation for several students the district said were being home schooled.

* District administrators said they were pressured to turn count week absences into excused ones. More than 5,000 students had been absent and later had unexcused absences reduced. Many without documentation.
Asked why district officials did it, Yost said: "Because they wanted to look good. They wanted to avoid the consequences of not doing a good job.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/01/28/1-columbus-school-audit-yost.html
Why these guys were pretty blatant, these things happen all over the United states, including in Las Vegas.