California strips 23 schools of ranking for cheating

The California Department of Education has stripped 23 schools of a key state ranking due to cheating and other irregularities in administering standardized tests last spring.
The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that the violations ranged from failing to cover bulletin boards to helping students correct errors or coaching them with actual test questions.
The incidents occurred during tests that are used to calculate a school’s Academic Performance Index, which is commonly used to rank schools.
The number of schools with such violations has remained constant over the past three years – about two dozen.
According to a report the newspaper obtained, some coaching was more overt than others, such as a teacher using facial expressions to indicate right or wrong answers.