BY PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI, CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY AND KRISTI TANNER-WHITE
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

Each year, millions of children in Michigan and across the nation take state standardized tests that impact everything from a school's reputation to how teachers will be evaluated to whether schools will even survive.

The pressures to perform, experts say, tempt some school administrators and teachers to cheat.

The Free Press, as part of a nationwide investigation with USA TODAY and other partners, analyzed millions of test score results and found that 34 schools across Michigan -- 32 of them in metro Detroit -- showed test score gains over a one-year period that experts say are statistically improbable. More broadly, the analysis found 304 schools in six states and the District of Columbia that had test scores so improbable, they should be investigated. Besides Michigan, the states were Arizona, Colorado, California, Florida and Ohio.

• From USA Today: A national look at scores too good to believe

Education reformers caution against jumping to the conclusion that a surge in scores reflects cheating. But experts in testing procedures say the increases exceed what can be reasonably expected.

The pressure to raise test scores is enormous, particularly among schools that fail to meet the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law. And with that pressure, the incentive to help students cheat also is growing, the experts say.

A growing problem

"It's more of a problem now than it was 10 years ago," said John Fremer, president of Caveon Test Security, a Utah company that contracts with states to deter cheating.

Most states investigate allegations of cheating only when tipped off. They rarely look at unusual swings in year-to-year test scores, as the Free Press and USA TODAY did, or examine other data that could raise red flags much sooner.


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