The cheating scandal that has been unfolding in the Atlanta Public Schools has reemerged in the news due to a deadline placed on the former teachers involved in the scandal to turn themselves in to the Fulton County Jail. According to the Washington Post, the 35 former teachers accused of participating in the cheating face a range of charges from racketeering to influencing witnesses. This is one of many recent cases of teachers and other school faculty being busted for cheating on standardized tests. These are disheartening allegations that provide an opportune moment to ponder what this situation tells us about the current state of the U.S. education system.

I can recall at least three times throughout middle and high school when a teacher has assisted me and my classmates in cheating on standardized tests. They have done it directly – telling us the answers as we filled out the Scantron sheet – and indirectly – slapping the answer booklet down on a desk and walking out for a coffee break. All of these teachers were people that I respected because they were energetic and they weren’t the type of teachers that you could tell hated being in front of classroom.

So why would my admirable, enthusiastic teachers risk their employment and reputation by cheating on standardized tests? Why weren’t they confident in the fact that they had taught the material to me and my classmates to the best of their abilities? To answer these questions and understand how something like this could happen – not just in Atlanta, but in our own local communities as well – we need to look at a multitude of factors such as education laws, school funding and the stress placed on educators to produce high test scores.

No Child Left Behind is the usual suspect regarded as the root of the testing emphasis that characterizes American education within the last decade. NCLB is the modern equivalent to former President Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 Elementary and Secondary Act which was enacted to close achievement gaps and raise the overall level of achievement nationwide. Former President George W. Bush proposed NCLB in 2001 and it passed in Congress with bipartisan support.

While I see nothing wrong with the goals of NCLB, the methods for reaching those goals and the effects it has had on the American education system are not worth sacrificing the future of our country and our world by bull headedly continuing to strive for goals that were excellent in theory but horribly executed.

Punishing schools and teachers for bad test scores with the threat of closure, funding loss and job loss while rewarding them with monetary incentives for good test scores cultivates the sort of teaching environment that would lead to a situation such as the one brought to light in Atlanta. There is no excuse for cheating and I don’t agree with it at all but I can certainly see why those teachers – and some of my past teachers – felt that cheating was an option. Their career is on the line either way.

They are underpaid and constantly under pressure from parents, politicians and everyone else to show that they are preparing students to be productive, educated world citizens. The accountability for students’ achievement lies with parents, politicians and the public as well, but those groups of people never seem to be held as accountable for student success as teachers when they are just as integral in the matter.

While it has been tough for the current administration to get Congress’ approval to reform NCLB, the administration was able to grant waivers to NCLB to 33 states (Nebraska wasn’t one of them) and D.C. These waivers give schools the flexibility to approach their academic goals with methods that are tailored for their academic needs instead of the standard methods outlined in NCLB. Hopefully, legislation continues to evolve in order to address the downsides of NCLB.

Additionally, I hope those educators that may be tempted to cheat have the strength and decency to not go through with it because even though it may seem like the only solution, the consequences of that act will affect us all when those students become adults. In the meantime, students and teachers alike should just keep their eyes own their own paper.