Thread: Investigation reveals extreme corruption in Atlanta Public S

Investigation reveals extreme corruption in Atlanta Public Schools at every level

Tuesday, July 12, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

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(NaturalNews) In what is perhaps the largest school cheating scandal in US history, the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) system is in very hot water after a 413-page investigative report released by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal revealed that teachers and administrators from more than 75 percent of schools in district cheated on their standardized test scores in 2009 -- and such fraud has been taking place since at least 2001.

From the top down, district employees for years have been engaging in widespread test fraud that included holding cheating "parties" to collectively alter students' test scores.

Headed up by former APS head superintendent Beverly Hall, the culture of cheating within the school system has been so pervasive and effective that between 2002 and 2009, the district's eight graders falsely appeared to have the greatest overall improvement in the National Assessment of Education Progress' reading test scores compared to students from any other urban district in the US -- or so it seemed.

The 14-point jump was the result of concerted cheating efforts, as were many of the other accolades the district has received in recent years. And in 2009, Hall actually received a "Superintendent of the Year" award for the district's overall improvement in test scores, even though these scores were largely fabricated.

According to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hall was responsible for tasking those below her with meeting lofty academic goals using whatever means necessary, even if it meant cheating.

The report also claims that she disregarded formal complaints made about misconduct, and routinely altered or destroyed them to avoid their potential exposure. Superintendents below her also conspired to silence those who tried to speak out about district corruption, and they even created incentives for educators to cheat.

The report goes on to indicate that teachers and administrators employed a variety of illicit tactics to improve their students' test scores. Some teachers deliberately placed low-performing students at desks next to high-performing students so that it would be easier for them to cheat, while others flat-out told their students which answers were correct as they were taking their tests.

And among those teachers who took the time to alter students' answers on tests after they had been taken, many wore rubber or latex gloves while they did so to avoid leaving their fingerprints on the paper.

One teacher who says she participated in cheating efforts because she feared retaliation if she failed to, told reporters that the entire district is run like the mob. And the report itself says that a "culture of fear and conspiracy of silence infected [the] school system, and kept many teachers from speaking freely about misconduct."

While some say the teachers involved should not be held accountable, many others insist there is no excuse for complying with corruption, even if it means losing one's job.

What teachers throughout the district have done, even if it was done reluctantly out of fear, is deceive the public, parents, and ultimately the students themselves.

Students who failed their competency tests, but that were corruptly given higher scores in secret, obviously were not adequately prepared to move on with their studies. And yet the vast majority of them "advanced" to higher learning levels regardless.

"You really cheat the children," said Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education, to 11Alive News, Atlanta's NBC news affiliate, in response to the report's release. "That's the part that's most disappointing about this whole situation."

And while Duncan went on to claim that the incident was an "isolated" one, there have actually been several other allegations of cheating across the country, including in Philadelphia, Penn. (http://articles.philly.com/2011-07-...), and in Los Angeles, Cal. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/...).

In response to the APS situation, though, the Atlanta School Board recently decided to replace superintendent Beverly Hall with an interim superintendent.

Erroll Davis, former Chancellor of the University of Georgia school system, says he plans to thoroughly review the report and carefully come up with a plan of action to address the many problems that plague the district. The full response from the district can be viewed here:
http://www.atlantapublicschools.us/...

Meanwhile, there is no word on whether or not any of the educators involved in the cheating ring will face criminal charges. However altering or destroying public records, as former superintendent Hall is said to have done, is a felony. And under Georgia law, she and any others who did either that, or who lied to investigators, could face up to ten years in prison.

"Dr. Hall pledged 'full cooperation' with this investigation, but did not deliver," writes the report. "APS withheld documents and information from us. Many district officials we interviewed were not truthful."

Sources for this story include:

http://www.ajc.com/news/investigati...

http://www.usnews.com/education/blo...

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Kathyet

3 dozen indicted in Atlanta cheating scandal

By KATE BRUMBACK | Associated Press
03/30/2013

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  View PhotoAssociated Press/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis Compton - FILE - In this June 13, 2011 file photo, outgoing schools superintendent, Dr. Beverly Hall, center, arrives for her last Atlanta school board …more

ATLANTA (AP) — Juwanna Guffie was sitting in her fifth-grade classroom taking a standardized test when, authorities say, the teacher came around offering information and asking the students to rewrite their answers. Juwanna rejected the help.

"I don't want your answers, I want to take my own test," Juwanna told her teacher, according to Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard.

On Friday, Juwanna — now 14 — watched as Fulton County prosecutors announced that a grand jury had indicted the Atlanta Public Schools' ex-superintendent and nearly three dozen other former administrators, teachers, principals and other educators of charges arising from a standardized test cheating scandal that rocked the system.

Former Superintendent Beverly Hall faces charges including conspiracy, making false statements and theft because prosecutors said some of the bonuses she received were tied to falsified scores. Hall retired just days before the findings of a state probe were released in mid-2011. A nationally known educator who was named Superintendent of the Year in 2009, Hall has long denied knowing about the cheating or ordering it.

During a news conference Friday, Howard highlighted the case of Juwanna and another student, saying they demonstrated "the plight of many children" in the Atlanta school system.

Their stories were among many that investigators heard in hundreds of interviews with school administrators, staff, parents and students during a 21-month-long investigation.

According to Howard, Juwanna said that when she declined her teacher's offer, the teacher responded that she was just trying to help her students. Her class ended up getting some of the highest scores in the school and won a trophy for their work. Juwanna felt guilty but didn't tell anyone about her class' cheating because she was afraid of retaliation and feared her teacher would lose her job.

She eventually told her sister and later told the district attorney's investigators. Still confident in her ability to take a test on her own, Juwanna got the highest reading score on a standardized test this year.

The other student cited by Howard was a third-grader who failed a benchmark exam and received the worst score in her reading class in 2006. The girl was held back, yet when she took a separate assessment test not long afterward, she passed with flying colors.

Howard said the girl's mother, Justina Collins, knew something was wrong, but was told by school officials that the child simply was a good test-taker. The girl is now in ninth grade, reading at a fifth-grade level.

"I have a 15-year-old now who is behind in achieving her goal of becoming what she wants to be when she graduates.

It's been hard trying to help her catch up," Collins said at the news conference.

The allegations date back to 2005. In addition to Hall, 34 other former school system employees were indicted. Four were high-level administrators, six were principals, two were assistant principals, six were testing coordinators and 14 were teachers. A school improvement specialist and a school secretary were also indicted.

Howard didn't directly answer a question about whether prosecutors believe Hall led the conspiracy.

"What we're saying is, is that without her, this conspiracy could not have taken place, particularly in the degree that it took place. Because as we know, this took place in 58 of the Atlanta Public Schools. And it would not have taken place if her actions had not made that possible," the prosecutor said.

Richard Deane, an attorney for Hall, told The New York Times that Hall continues to deny the charges and expects to be vindicated. Deane said the defense was making arrangements for bond.

"We note that as far as has been disclosed, despite the thousands of interviews that were reportedly done by the governor's investigators and others, not a single person reported that Dr. Hall participated in or directed them to cheat on the C.R.C.T.," he said later in a statement provided to the Times.

The tests were the key measure the state used to determine whether it met the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Schools with good test scores get extra federal dollars to spend in the classroom or on teacher bonuses.

It wasn't immediately clear how much bonus money Hall received. Howard did not say and the amount wasn't mentioned in the indictment.

"Those results were caused by cheating. ... And the money that she received, we are alleging that money was ill-gotten," Howard said.

A 2011 state investigation found cheating by nearly 180 educators in 44 Atlanta schools. Educators gave answers to students or changed answers on tests after they were turned in, investigators said. Teachers who tried to report it faced retaliation, creating a culture of "fear and intimidation," the investigation found.

State schools Superintendent John Barge said last year he believed the state's new accountability system would remove the pressure to cheat on standardized tests because it won't be the sole way the state determines student growth. The pressure was part of what some educators in the system blamed for their cheating.

A former top official in the New York City school system who later headed the Newark, N.J. system for three years, Hall served as Atlanta's superintendent for more than a decade, which is rare for an urban schools chief. She was named Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators in 2009 and credited with raising student test scores and graduation rates, particularly among the district's poor and minority students. But the award quickly lost its luster as her district became mired in the scandal.

In a video message to schools staff before she retired in the summer of 2011, Hall warned that the state investigation launched by former Gov. Sonny Perdue would likely reveal "alarming" behavior.

"It's become increasingly clear that a segment of our staff chose to violate the trust that was placed in them," Hall said. "There is simply no excuse for unethical behavior and no room in this district for unethical conduct. I am confident that aggressive, swift action will be taken against anyone who believed so little in our students and in our system of support that they turned to dishonesty as the only option."

The cheating came to light after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that some scores were statistically improbable.

Most of the 178 educators named in the special investigators' report in 2011 resigned, retired, did not have their contracts renewed or appealed their dismissals and lost. Twenty-one educators have been reinstated and three await hearings to appeal their dismissals, said Atlanta Public Schools spokesman Stephen Alford.

APS Superintendent Erroll Davis said the district, which has about 50,000 students, is now focused on nurturing an ethical environment, providing quality education and supporting the employees who were not implicated.
"I know that our children will succeed when the adults around them work hard, work together, and do so with integrity," he said in a statement.

The Georgia Professional Standards Commission is responsible for licensing teachers and has been going through the complaints against teachers, said commission executive secretary Kelly Henson. Of the 159 cases the commission has reviewed, 44 resulted in license revocations, 100 got two-year suspensions and nine were suspended for less than two years, Henson said. No action was taken against six of the educators.

http://news.yahoo.com/3-dozen-indicted-atlanta-cheating-scandal-214241949.html