Numbersense in education: gaming the statistics, cheating scandals, and more

My friend Kate alerted me to the notable New York Times story on academic fraud at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill). Phantom courses have been created to provide students with A grades, in some cases, for the benefit of athletes. This story fits the larger pattern of fraudulent practices across the education sector, which is the subject of Chapter 1 of Numbersense (link). The story about law school admissions in Chapter 1 has many parallels with this story. Falsifying grades to make them look better is a common theme. Law schools do it for their US News ranking;...