Cheating

I've heard horror stories about dog-walkers. People who hired a dog walker to come in every day to walk their pup, only to find out that the person took the money daily, but never touched the dog. Or the one about the woman who returned home from work once to find that the pup waiting there for her belonged to someone else. People who hire dog-walkers trust that they will actually show up, actually take their dogs out -- and keep them out and moving for the amount of time paid for. But that doesn't always happen.

An investigation into alleged cheating at Baltimore's fire academy did not uncover a "systemic" problem, the fire chief announced Tuesday, but six supervisors and instructors are facing administrative discipline as a result of the probe. As the department announced plans to address the issues raised by the cheating allegations and other management problems, some worried that the decision to close the emergency services portion of the academy could create logistical problems for firefighters.

The Baltimore Fire Department has voluntarily ended its emergency medical services training in the wake of an investigation into cheating at the fire academy in June, according to the state agency that oversees such training. The disclosure came a day before the state was set to review the findings of the cheating investigation. The Fire Department preemptively sent a letter to the head of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems board indicating that the department would give up the fire academy's designation as a state-certified EMS educational program, Fire Chief James S. Clack said Monday.

The head of Baltimore's fire academy has been reassigned, Fire Chief James S. Clack said Tuesday, a week after officials began an investigation into cheating at the academy. Chief Lloyd Carter will now head the department's recruiting efforts, Clack said. He denied that the transfer was related to the cheating investigation, which centers around allegations that an instructor handed students a scenario for a lifesaving practical exam. "It's unfortunate this is happening during the investigation, but it's more about having someone interested who can lead recruiting," said Clack.

I was chagrined to see another blaring headline generated by senior officials accusing low-level subordinates of gross wrongdoing without a shred of evidence ("EMT training halted by city," July 19). City leaders must deal with viral publicity every day. The appetite for news, particularly scandal, is almost impossible to satisfy. But that moment of panic and dread when bad publicity is at its worst is the time for true leaders to stand tall and remain steadfast in commitment to due process.

All of Baltimore City's Emergency Medical Service instructors have been put on administrative leave until an investigation is complete into allegations of cheating at the city's fire academy, Fire Chief James S. Clack said Wednesday. The Fire Department's training division consists of about 25 people, Clack said, and about half that number are EMS instructors. "The half that does EMS training was put on administrative leave on Monday pending the outcome of this investigation," Clack said.

When you cheat, they tell kids in school, you only cheat yourself, but in Baltimore, we've recently learned that's not always true. Sometimes you also cheat the students you're supposed to be teaching when you change the answers on their state standardized tests, and even worse, sometimes you cheat victims of heart attacks, strokes or traumas when you get inside information about the exam to become an emergency medical technician. School officials and the top commanders at the fire department are fretting that their respective cheating scandals will damage public trust in their institutions, and that is certainly true, but the cumulative effect casts a pall on the entire city.

Baltimore fire officials suspended emergency medical training and locked down an instructional facility Monday after revelations that some student firefighters had cheated on a state licensing exam, officials said. "This is a serious mistake that tarnishes the reputation of the hundreds of professional and dedicated men and women who work so hard for us," Fire Chief James S. Clack said in a statement. The state agency that oversees paramedics and emergency medical technicians notified the Fire Department last week that it had determined that students cheated on the practical segment of a test administered June 14. The 20 students in the class under investigation make up only the second class to begin at the fire academy in more than a year.

It really should come as no surprise that cheating on standardized tests is becoming more prevalent. The schools increasingly are tying almost every kind of evaluation to these scores, including teacher performance evaluations. Teachers and administrators have joined their students in the growing anxiety over these high-stakes tests and their implied meaning. I use the term "implied meaning" because what these scores seem to imply is in fact not true at all. What schools are seeking in rising test score numbers is an assurance that there are real gains in student learning.

I have just read Pro Publica's damning statistics about unequal access to advanced courses and special programs for students in Maryland. While Maryland has the highest percentage of students taking at least one Advanced Placement course in the country, deeper analysis reveals that most of the students enrolled in these programs come from the wealthier schools in the state. According to Pro Publica, Maryland schools in high poverty areas have far fewer students taking challenging AP courses.