Cheating is wrong - I don't see any justification otherwise. With that said, the NCLB and standardized tests are destroying school - the only focus now is to learn to answer those multiple choice questions at the end of the year.
In Norfolk (one of the cities in the NYT article), the 'SOL' annual standardized test is a sole determining factor in pupil promotion. If you come out of 4th grade with a 100% average, but you fail your SOL for whatever reason (you're nervous and didn't do well, you were sick that day, etc.) - YOU FAIL 4TH GRADE. That seems ridiculous.
In schools on the watch list in Nevada where the state has stepped in teachers are no longer really allowed to teach. In 4th grade students receive grades in Reading, Writing, Math, Art, Social Studies, Physical Education and a few other categories. At these schools the teachers are only allowed to teach reading, writing and math. Every lesson plan must be geared towards meeting a standard in one of those three categories. The teachers are required to give out grades in the areas they are not allowed to teach. When pressed on "what" grade the children should receive the answer is typically "whatever you feel is appropriate." These children aren't receiving an education, they are being taught how to memorize information for their CRT's then for their benchmarks, then for whatever test follows that.
This isn't what teachers want, this is what teachers are forced to do by their states in order to achieve the largest number of passing schools and keep federal funding levels high.
In Norfolk (one of the cities in the NYT article), the 'SOL' annual standardized test is a sole determining factor in pupil promotion. If you come out of 4th grade with a 100% average, but you fail your SOL for whatever reason (you're nervous and didn't do well, you were sick that day, etc.) - YOU FAIL 4TH GRADE. That seems ridiculous.