Illinois Teachers accused of cheating still working in schools

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Educators forced out or disciplined by local districts over cheating and other state testing violations continued working in schools or administering state exams as their cases languished in Springfield without investigation, the Tribune has learned.

Contrary to Illinois law, state officials for years didn't investigate or pursue discipline of educators reported for testing misconduct — from excessive coaching to giving students answers to prepping them with actual test questions, a Tribune investigation found. Some may have been allowed to keep teaching even if the state had investigated, but in the meantime, educators were allowed to jump easily to new jobs while the state delayed.

Illinois State Board of Education officials say they were instead focused on higher-priority discipline cases because of limited resources, though lawmakers have given the agency $1.3 million since 2008-09 to pursue educator misconduct. Typically, they addressed violations by throwing out test results and letting local officials discipline educators.

But after the Tribune requested information about cheating incidents related to Illinois Standards Achievement Tests, the state board revealed it is now investigating 33 reports of testing misconduct dating to 2004-05.

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