TY  - JOUR
AU  - Jacob,Brian A.
AU  - Levitt,Steven D.
TI  - Rotten Apples: An Investigation of the Prevalence and Predictors of Teacher Cheating
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9413
PY  - 2003
Y2  - January 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9413
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9413.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Brian Jacob
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
University of Michigan
735 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Tel: 734-615-6994
Fax: NA
E-Mail: bajacob@umich.edu

Steven D. Levitt
Department of Economics
University of Chicago
1126 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL  60637
Tel: 773/834-1862
Fax: 773/702-8490
E-Mail: slevitt@midway.uchicago.edu
M2  - featured in NBER digest on 2003-07-01
AB  - We develop an algorithm for detecting teacher cheating that combines information on unexpected test score fluctuations and suspicious patterns of answers for students in a classroom. Using data from the Chicago Public Schools, we estimate that serious cases of teacher or administrator cheating on standardized tests occur in a minimum of 4-5 percent of elementary school classrooms annually. Moreover, the observed frequency of cheating appears to respond strongly to relatively minor changes in incentives. Our results highlight the fact that incentive systems, especially those with bright line rules, often induce behavioral distortions such as cheating. Statistical analysis, however, may provide a means of detecting illicit acts, despite the best attempts of perpetrators to keep them clandestine.
ER  -