Fraud and Corruption: Cheating in Atlanta Public Schools

Opponents of standardized testing (calling Bob Schaeffer and FairTest!) just got the smoking gun they’ve been searching for since they filled in their first demeaning, dehumanizing little bubble. One of the key arguments testing opponents have used in the wake of the DC/Rhee test result scandal is that these tests bring out the worst in educators. Make a test a significant measure of one’s employment and you’ll see everything from teaching to the test to outright cheating.

Of course, they’re right — to a point. High standards (or simply having standards) don’t turn solid, honest educators into criminal masterminds. In Atlanta, though, it seems tests drove quite a few to the dark side.

Read Volume 1 of the Special Investigation over at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution — it’s an eye-opener even if you see it coming. The cover letter says that there was “organized and systemic wrongdoing” in Atlanta Public Schools.

We’re only in July, but we’ve got a contender for Understatement of the Year.

Maureen Downey is blogging her reading of the report over at Get Schooled. Here are a few of her pulls:

2. The process was so sophisticated that some schools used plastic transparency sheets to make it easier to change wrong answers quickly.

3. The answer changing took place on weekends and once at a teacher’s house in Douglas County.

5. Teachers arranged classroom seating so that weak students could cheat off better students.

6. Teachers in the early grades used voice inflections to help children figure out right answers.

Maureen asked today on Twitter, “Was there ever a question about whether cheating educators would keep their APS jobs?”

My reply: “There’s *always* a question about whether — or for how long — an offending educator will keep his job.”

There are three volumes; I’ve got a feeling there will be more surprises in this one. Really, if they had ‘cheating parties,’ so there’s probably a whole lot left to hear about.