One cheater whispered answers in students' ears as they took the exam. Another photocopied test booklets so students would know vocabulary words in advance. Another erased score sheets marked with the wrong answers and substituted correct ones.
None of these violations involving California's standardized tests were committed by devious students: These sneaky offenders were teachers.
Since a statewide testing program began five years ago, more than 200 California teachers have been investigated for allegedly helping students on state exams, and at least 75 of those cases have been proved, according to documents obtained by The Times.
Most cases have led to reprimands and warnings that future scores will be monitored, but a few teachers have been fired or have resigned, say school administrators and union officials.
Some educators say teacher cheating comes as no surprise, given increased anxiety surrounding state tests and the federal use of them under the No Child Left Behind law.
While students may want to do well on those tests to please parents or avoid remedial classes, their regular report cards are more important. But principals pressure teachers to work on raising scores not just for bragging rights. The staff of a school with consistently bad results can be reassigned and federal funding can be withheld.
"Some people feel that they need to boost test scores by hook or by crook," said Larry Ward of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, a watchdog group that has criticized many standardized tests. "The more pressure, the more some people take the unethical option."
Nearly 2,500 pages of documents from a Public Records Act request detail cases of teachers allowing extra time, erasing and changing score sheets, reading answers and dropping hints during tests.
Some records include detailed investigations but omit the teachers' names and possible punishment. Others identify only the district and campus. Some cases were blatant, while others were found to be a result of confusion over testing rules.
According to state documents, incidents in the last five years include the following:
* In the San Joaquin Valley's Merced County, a third-grade Planada School District teacher gave hints to answers and left a poster on a wall that also provided clues.
