Teachers being force to pass failing students is the main reason for education gap

Robert Weissberg:

Since the mid-1960s, billions have been spent to close race-related gaps in educational achievement. While these gaps have been somewhat narrowed, they have remained substantial and seem impervious to nearly all nostrums – everything from early intervention programs such as Head Start to hard-headed businesslike remedies such as firing incompetent teachers. Now, given decades of disappointment, what's next?

Let me suggest that "a solution" is emerging, but it is not what gap-obsessed egalitarians have in mind. This "solution" is deception – if genuine equally of outcome is unreachable, instead, provide the illusion of success. Remarkably, this deceit is often welcomed as if it were the real thing, with little outrage when fraudsters are exposed.

The National Center for Fair and Open Testing argues that teachers illicitly boosting student test scores is endemic. Such deception is particularly alluring at schools with large populations of underperforming minority students, where the dismal numbers can bring school closings or mass firings. Such cheating has been documented in Atlanta; Baltimore; and Washington, D.C. as well as in schools in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and elsewhere. They are, according to the center, just "the tip of the iceberg.

Cheating may simply entail erasing the wrong answers and replacing them with the correct ones. Less blatant tactics include strongly hinting at the correct answer during the test under the guise of "helping" the puzzled test-taker, using similar test questions in classroom lessons, or just teaching the test and little else.

One teacher has even written a guide for potential cheaters that includes tips to minimize getting caught – for instance, allowing unauthorized extra time by putting a "do not enter" sign on the classroom door. The Washington Post likewise offers multiple ingenious cheating tactics such as smartphones to forward pictures of exam questions. Especially effective is to exclude the low performers (notably, students with disabilities and those with limited English) from taking the test. Another ploy is to prevent expelled or suspended students from taking the test or encouraging the weakest students to drop out or enroll in GED programs prior to the test.
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There is more.

These teachers are doing their students no favors.  They are just pushing them through a system that leaves them unprepared for real work where employers expect real performance.  If the school administrators are pushing the teachers to do this shame on them.  They are complicit in the failure to educate.