Over 200 unqualified Texas educators had someone else take their exams in cheating scandal, officials say

[Hermit-The-Prog]

Source: NBC News

Oct. 30, 2024, 10:05 AM CDT
By Marlene Lenthang

Five people have been charged in Texas, accused of organizing and participating in an illegal cheating scheme that certified more than 200 unqualified teachers and saw the plot’s “kingpin” rake in more than $1 million, prosecutors announced.

In the scheme, individuals would typically pay $2,500 to have a proxy take certification tests for them at two testing centers in Houston. The scandal involved bribing a testing proctor to allow test applicants and their proxy to switch places, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced in a press conference Monday.

Overall, more than 400 fraudulent exams were taken and over 200 teachers were falsely certified on a variety of exams and are now scattered across the state. The scheme was traced back to May 2020, during the Covid pandemic.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/200-unqualified-texas-educators-someone-else-take-exam-cheating-scanda-rcna177984

[Drum]

1. Horrible!

[mdbl]

2. They thought their only qualifications was knowing the Bible

[flying_wahini]

4. You're thinking of Oklahoma...

[dalton99a]

3. Kick

In mid-2023, the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the state agency that oversees primary and secondary public education, said it had become aware of "certain irregularities" at Houston’s Training and Education Center, known as HTEC, a location for candidates to take certification exams.

Investigators noticed a pattern, they said: Numerous teacher certification candidates who previously failed certification exams would drive from faraway Texas cities to the Houston area to take exams.

“Suddenly, they were passing the test with flying colors,” Mike Levine, a felony chief in the DA’s Public Corruption Division, told reporters.

Then a tip came in that exposed the cheating scheme, authorities said.

[dlk]

5. Texas public schools are of such poor quality, substitute teachers aren't even required to have a degree

There is a reason Republicans running the state want an uneducated population.

[moniss]

6. This sort of harkens to the GQP

insisting that soldiers, businessmen etc. can be teachers even without having any training in education. They are convinced it's only about giving a prepared lesson and then handing out homework, quizzes and tests. And of course corporal punishment or prison for any disciplinary problems.