Correlation, Causation and Cheating in Education

Freakonomics explores multiple circumstances and the difference between correlation and causation. A standout question that the authors delve into asks, “What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?” (15). The authors begin with the Chicago Public School system and standardized testing. The CPS (Chicago Public School system) placed elementary and secondary schools with low test scores on probation, who then “face[ed] the threat of being shut down” (22). As one can realize, some teachers would do everything in their power to avoid low test scores, even cheating. Fortunately for teachers, “teacher cheating is rarely looked for, hardly ever detected, and just about never punished” (23). Teachers in the CPS who received low test

To find cheating teachers, cheating algorithms processed the answers of every CPS student taking the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) and flagged classrooms whose students miraculously all marked the same bubbles for certain strings of answers. Looking at one example, Classroom A, fifteen of the twenty students answered the same six consecutive questions right and for four different reasons, explained in the book. The CPS suspected one hundred twenty teachers of cheating and retested those specific classrooms. CPS discovered many cheating teachers, who CPS promptly fired, and the teachers CPS suspected of cheating, but could not prove cheated, received warnings. The rampant cheating by teachers in CPS brings one to the question, what do cheating teachers and sumo wrestlers hold in common? Unfortunately, they both cheat. Out of all the sumo wrestlers in Japan, only the top sixty-six, who make up the sumo elite, rake in enough dough to sustain themselves. These top sixty-six wrestlers participate in six tournaments a year. Every tournament, “each wrestler has fifteen bouts…one per day over fifteen consecutive days. If he finishes the tournament with a winning record (eight victories or better), his ranking will rise. If he has a losing record, his ranking falls. If it falls far enough, he is booted from the elite rank