Cheating scandal: Feds say teachers hired stand-in to take their certification tests

On November 25, 2012, in US NEWS, by PecanGroup 

 

Cheating scandal: Feds say teachers hired stand-in to take their certification tests

By Adrian Sainz, The Associated Press

It was a brazen and surprisingly long-lived scheme, authorities said, to help aspiring public school teachers cheat on the tests they must pass to prove they are qualified to lead their classrooms.

For 15 years, teachers in three Southern states paid Clarence Mumford Sr. — himself a longtime educator — to send someone else to take the tests in their place, authorities said. Each time, Mumford received a fee of between $1,500 and $3,000 to send one of his test ringers with fake identification to the Praxis exam. In return, his customers got a passing grade and began their careers as cheaters, according to federal prosecutors in Memphis.

Clarence Mumford faces 45 counts of conspiracy and fraud.
The feds say people paid him thousands of dollars to arrange
for someone else to take their licensing exam. Mumford is a
Hughes, Arkansas school counselor who once worked as an
assistant principal with Memphis City Schools. He left MCS
two years ago amid allegations he offered money to a student
for sex. The feds say this scheme lasted for 15 years. Source

Clarence Mumford faces 45 counts of conspiracy and fraud. The feds say people paid him thousands of dollars to arrange for someone else to take their licensing exam.
Authorities say the scheme affected hundreds — if not thousands — of public school students who ended up being taught by unqualified instructors.

Mel Evans / AP

Princeton, N.J.-based Educational Testing Services writes and administers Praxis teacher certification examinations.

Mumford faces more than 60 fraud and conspiracy charges that claim he created fake driver’s licenses with the information of a teacher or an aspiring teacher and attached the photograph of a test-taker. Prospective teachers are accused of giving Mumford their Social Security numbers for him to make the fake identities. More>>