CRCT tampering: Crisis in confidence, character and conscience for APS
In a jaw-dropping meeting with Gov. Sonny Perdue and his staff Tuesday, the AJC learned that a review of all 2009 CRCT answer sheets identified 74 “severe” elementary and middle schools schools in which there appeared to be widespread answer-sheet tampering. The worst offender was Atlanta Public Schools in which cheating appears to have occurred in 37 of its 55 elementary schools.
Here is the link to the AJC searchable database of all schools. Here is a link to the list of severe-only schools. Here is a link to the detailed news story.And this takes you to a map. Here is a new map created Friday.
Responding to earlier evidence of cheating, including an analysis by the AJC, the state had every 2009 answer sheet reviewed to measure how often kids changed wrong answers to right by virtue of erasures on the sheets. Because every test sheet was checked, the state was able to develop a reliable index of how often test answers were changed from wrong to right and flag schools that had inordinate occurrences of answer changes, right down to the classroom level.
It then flagged schools that had higher-than-average numbers of wrong -to-right answers, and found troubling patterns, most of which occurred in Atlanta schools and in Dougherty County schools. To understand, look at third grade math scores. Reviewing the answer sheets of 125,000 third graders, the state found that the average student changed 1.87 answers from wrong to right.
If there was a third-grade classroom in which the students on average changed 4.8 answers from wrong to right, a flag went up, said Kathleen Mathers, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. “That change was so much bigger than what we saw in classrooms across the state.”
APS Superintendent Beverly Hall must address a culture of cheating in her schools that threatens all her reform efforts.
Then, the state examined how each individual class performed on the test and how many answers went from incorrect to correct. They compared each classroom to the state average. To be flagged, the changes from wrong to right answers had to be well above state average, so much so that it could not be a matter of chance. Then, the state looked at the schools as a whole and found widespread instances of improbable answer changes.
On its list of the 74 schools with the highest number of classrooms with questionable – unbelievable, in fact – erasures from wrong to right, APS has 43 schools and Dougherty has eight schools.
Out of the 74 flagged schools, DeKalb had six schools including the much acclaimed DeKalb Path Academy Charter School. Fulton has three schools. Clayton has two schools, including Lewis Academy of Excellence, a charter school that appeared before the state board of education this morning to plead for a reconsideration of state charter status, citing its academic achievement and its performance on state tests.
No Gwinnett, Cobb, Fayette, Cherokee, Rockdale, Decatur, Forsyth or Henry schools are on the list of 74.
With evidence suggesting that tampering of test sheets took place in 67 percent of its 55 elementary schools, Atlanta Public Schools is now facing a crisis in culture, confidence, conscience and character.
This data show that a culture of cheating exists in Atlanta schools, a culture that may have taken root before reform-minded Superintendent Beverly Hall arrived a decade ago or may be a result of her relentless pressure on her schools to improve and do it quickly.
Either way, this culture cannot be tolerated and must be banished, even if it means a wholesale firing of staff. (I suspect that some will call for Hall’s firing. If the cheating traces back to her, she will have to resign. There may well be a case to be made that she should have known that this was going on in her district.)
This is not a few bad apples. This is rot to the core of APS and it cannot be addressed with training or memos. The shakeup at APS should bounce desks off the floor and rattle pictures off the walls.
Otherwise, how can parents know if their kids are learning if test results are not valid?
On the issue of conscience, how could schools – including some in which eight out of 10 classrooms had compelling evidence of cheating — promote students to the next grade who were not able to do the work, yet had soaring CRCT scores?
This is educational malpractice of the worst kind.
It not only hurts the children, but it victimizes the next teacher in the chain who can’t understand why her student who scored proficient in reading the year before now can’t sound out a sentence. Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, those students may have qualified for tutoring based on their undoctored scores, says Mathers, of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. “Students were deprived of those opportunities.”
Superintendent Hall should not waste a minute arguing with the state’s findings. As a clearly concerned Gov. Perdue told us yesterday in an hour-long meeting, “The facts are what the facts are. Trust me, we will not allow this to be whitewashed. I can’t think of any superintendent who has the students’ best interests at heart who won’t want to find out what happened and where.”
Gov. Perdue met with the AJC Tuesday to share a stunning study of how often test answers were changed on last year's CRCTs.
Perdue said he is counting on systems to investigate and right any wrongs, including getting true assessments of their students and providing academic help to kids who aren’t really proficient.
“There is strong evidence here,” he said. “It is not my job to impugn or indict any one person or school. I may change my mind as I go down the line.”
When you look at the lists – and our AJC technical staffers have been working all night to get this data from the state in easy-to-use form for you — you will see that the schools with the greatest instances of tampering are poor and minority. These are the schools that have the farthest to go to get their kids to proficiency on state tests.
You do not see the suburban powerhouse counties on the list. I also have to note that some districts with high poverty enrollments are not on the list. (Along with the 74 truly problematic schools, the state assembled a list of 117 schools with moderately troubling test irregularities.) So, between the severe- and moderate-concern schools, there are 191 or 10 percent of the state’s elementary and middle schools that have test results that merit monitoring.
But the searing findings raise so many questions. Where did the cheating take place — in the classroom or after the answer sheets were turned into the school offices?
In some instances, as many as 48 answers on a test sheet were changed from wrong to right. Why would a teacher or principal go that far to ensure a single student passed? How desperate were they?
Are the honest teachers turning a blind eye or are their complaints ignored?
How does APS rebuild after this? Why did so many Atlanta schools resort to cheating when national testing showed that APS was, in fact, raising achievement? Or, are those test results now in doubt, too?
How can teachers at the 43 APS schools on the state’s most extreme list go to work tomorrow knowing that all their good work – and there is clearly some good work amid this wreckage – is now in question?
We need to talk about whether we are asking too much of students or too little of schools?
Let’s start.
(I just received the official statement from GOSA on this and am tacking it on here as it gives more information on the process:
The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) today released the results of a spring 2009 Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) erasure analysis. GOSA partnered with CTB-McGraw Hill (CTB), the state’s testing vendor in charge of developing and scoring CRCT exams, to conduct a comprehensive examination of all statewide CRCT answer documents for grades 1 through 8. The analysis focused on the number of wrong answers that had been changed to right answers on individual student answer sheets in Reading, English-Language Arts, and Mathematics.
“The analysis looked on average at 125,000 test takers in every subject and grade level at which the CRCT was administered and provided a clear picture of typical student test behavior against which all schools could be compared,” said GOSA Executive Director, Kathleen Mathers. “Our recommendations are intended to eliminate future problems and help students who have been adversely affected by test tampering.”
In the analysis, CTB psychometricians scanned answer documents to identify total erasures per classroom, flagging those classrooms in which the number of wrong-to-right changes proved to be three standard deviations (SDs) or more above the state average. Less than 0.15% of test takers would be expected to fall in that range naturally.
Based on the analysis, schools were placed in varying categories according to their percentage of flagged classrooms. 80% of Georgia’s elementary and middle schools fell into the “Clear” category, meaning less than 6% of the classes within a given school were flagged; 10% fell into the “Minimal Concern” category with 6%-10% of classes flagged; 6% were determined to be in the “Moderate Concern” category with 11%-24% of classes flagged; and only 4% were termed “Severe Concern” as defined by a school having 25% or more of its classes flagged for wrong-to-right changes.
Recommendations on which the State Board of Education will vote range from requiring local Superintendents to conduct internal investigations to determine the causes of testing irregularities to schools rotating teachers during the 2010 CRCT test administration so that they administer the test to students they have not taught. In addition, state monitors will be placed in all schools in the severe concern category during this spring’s test.
“Important decisions will be made from this data that are critical to the future of Georgia’s children,” said GOSA Deputy Director, Dr. Eric Wearne. “Overall, Georgia’s schools are performing well and continue to excel in student achievement.”
The CRCT is a standardized assessment given to students in grades 1-8 in Georgia. The test is designed to measure how well students at each grade level have learned the state’s curriculum. CRCT results are used to determine whether schools have made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as required by No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
GOSA plans future analyses of standardized test scores, possibly including End of Course Tests (EOCT) and Georgia High School Graduation Tests (GHSGT) and will also examine graduation and dropout rates and other factors that determine student achievement. Please visit www.gaosa.org to see the full 2009 CRCT erasure analysis report.
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216 comments Add your comment
Nikole Allen
February 10th, 2010
8:22 pm
I am not sure what goes on in charter schools, but most APS elementary schools serving a majority of African-American students are subjected to scripted reading instruction. I don’t know what the website says, I know the teachers that have to teach using these programs. It was the main reason I chose not to apply in APS after graduating. I was also commenting on what the common definition of balanced literacy was. Not Fountas and Pinnell’s definition or APS’s definition. I was only making the point that guided reading is an important part, not the whole of good literacy instruction.
Now What?
February 10th, 2010
8:26 pm
Pompano is right! There’s no place for the race card here. Cheating is wrong regardless of who does it. And, it is a FACT that cheating is very common in APS. And, yes, as long as cheating continues, the schools are setting up the students for failure and futures as….ditch diggers??? Maybe so.
Northview (Ex)Teacher
February 10th, 2010
8:46 pm
Yes, cheating is wrong, which is my point. Purdue is cheating an entire generation of children out of an education. If you all want to ingore the fact that he is targeting a minority school district, so be it. That’s how the Purdues of the world operate: play upon prejudice, racism, and classism: do anything to divert people’s attention from what you are up to. Are you really as dumb as you come across?
There are all sorts of issues associated with educating inner-city children, as any educated person knows. But pointing that out to you all seems like a waste of time because you don’t seem too educated.
For my money, the diggest dumba**es of all are the ones too blind to see and too deaf to hear. Woof, woof, woof. Only eight months until football can give you a reason to live again, can fill up the emptiness and blackness that forms what you call a life.
Reality
February 10th, 2010
8:49 pm
I wonder if Bill Gates will now want his big money back from APS????
colin richards
February 10th, 2010
8:50 pm
Nikole: NO ONE knows what goes on at Charter Schools… they are totally unregulated. I used to be pro-charter school because they offered a choice and competition in Public School… but in the present environment of cutting Teachers wages and things like Band and Orchestra, I feel they are a totally unnecessary drain on the system. Many of them are started by religious organizations and are nothing more than publicly funded religious schools. Another big waste of money is these standardized tests. My child is doing FIVE sets this year. The ITBS is enough! If we got rid of the CRCTs which are a big fat waste, we would not be facing huge cutbacks and Georgia would not be on the threshold of being the LOWEST in the state. Maybe that’s what the Governor wants (ie, more stupid people) , to increase the amount of his constituency, however.
PappyHappy
February 10th, 2010
8:53 pm
Check the following for all systems — http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-crct-cheating-scandal-295376.html
The Atlanta system is sad; shocking; and abysmal! Tax payer dollars have been wasted; kids have been cheated from an education; and some heads need to roll — starting at the top. From now on when we hear of all of these ‘miracles’ happening, think that investigators need to be called in immediately!
Do these ‘educators and administrators’ know what they have done to the credibility of teachers in the State of Georgia? Do they know what they have probably done in attracting new businesses to the State? The law going through the legislature needs to be toughened up, and force monetary restitution and barring from teaching if teachers/administrators are caught doing this again!! Right now, WHO CAN TRUST A TEACHER OR ADMINISTRATOR???? SAD ISN’T IT??
Attentive Parent
February 10th, 2010
8:57 pm
Thanks Nikole. No I was going off a contract APS imposed on a charter school in 2007 and what they were requiring.
“Balance” in a curriculum can mean a blend of useful methods or it can be pure rhetoric designed to ward of any more questions. Given the specific materials cited, it was the latter here.
I think we can all agree that no child should get to 2nd grade without a teacher or other adult explaining basically that “sounds have letters that represent them in print”. In addition, the effort of mastering letter-sound correspondences is so much easier if you’ve heard wonderful stories you’d like to read to yourself.
Guided Reading and Reading Recovery are particular curriculums as is Zig’s Direct Instruction.
Seems like your idea of guided reading is in fact more of a balance. My concern stems from what the field tested or Stanovich peer reviewed research shows works with “at risk” kids and the consequences on literacy and numeracy if that research is being systematically ignored by a school district.
S. Purdue
February 10th, 2010
8:59 pm
But don’t ya’ll see that all of the teachers overwhelmingly support my new bonus pay for test scores plan? Aw shucks, a lil erasing never hurt nobody. Keep jumping like poodles thru those hoops teachers.
Happy Teacher
February 10th, 2010
9:01 pm
Colin- I have no idea where you are getting your “information”, but charters are more regulated than a regular public school. Not only do they have to follow the rules and standards of the the district they are in, they also are responsible for living up to the standards set forth in their charter.
For the larger issue: Why are so many blaming the standards for the cheating? The cheating is the problem, not the fact that our student’s achievment is measured.
Lou
February 10th, 2010
9:20 pm
I taught in APS from 2003-2007, quit twice. I would never send my kids to APS and I don’t even have children. I heard of cheating and even saw other teachers do it. Senior teachers would even say to hover over a kid and point to the answer. As a new teacher, I was shocked at the lack of integrity. I understand the pressure of NCLB, but this does nothing to serve the students. Nepotism and that frat/sorority favoritism runs rampant in APS. A lot of the tenured teachers need to be let go with the Walden, Capella, University of Phoenix bought degrees just to get higher pay. It is disgusting. Dr.Hall and all those schools “on the floor”, yeah I see your names on the severe list. and Dr. Hall received Super of the year? Really? AJC just open up an anonymous phone line and I am sure floods of teachers will tell you more of the cheating.
Shar
February 10th, 2010
9:25 pm
I could not agree more that parents need to deliver on basic responsibilities in regards to their children’s education readiness. I believe that a part of the registration process should be to make parents/guardians sign a binding agreement that their child will arrive at school healthy, on time, rested, with all necessary preparation/homework completed, fed and prepared to behave in such a way that teachers can teach and other students can learn. If those conditions are not agreed to, or are not met, those students should be placed in schools that operate from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm and that centralize the extra services that children with negligent parents need: three meals a day, school nurse/clinic, after school study hall with assistance for homework and test preparation, after school sports or music enrichment, etc. If the parents can deliver their child to school with all of those conditions met, they have earned the right to have more choice and schools which focus on advanced learning and enrichment within the usual school hours.
Education may be a protected right, but school choice is not. If parents cannot participate in their children’s education, others must step in and make the commitments and decisions necessary for students to succeed. We cannot afford to stretch resources too thin trying to make every school all things for all students, nor can we expect teachers to operate in bulging classrooms with kids in a huge range of needs, preparation and ability. This does not work, and it never will.
That said, the cheating is inexcusable. A functional education is all most kids will have to help them go forward in life, and that is being denied to them by the greed and self interest of teachers and administrators.
Hall must go NOW. Cox must go NOW. The Board must go as soon as possible. Cheating teachers must be prosecuted. We need to start over.
Maureen Downey
February 10th, 2010
9:26 pm
Lou, Did you ever complain to the principal? If so, what was the response?
Maureen
Kids R GreaT
February 10th, 2010
9:32 pm
I teach in a public charter school. We must abide by state and local laws and regulations. Not only that, but we have our own goals that we create for ourselves. Believe me we must answer to administrators and our State BOE as well as our stake holders. It keeps us on our toes and helps us continue to challenge ourselves as professional teachers.
Pappy Happy, you can trust many of us. I’ve worked as a teacher for 29 years. I respect my system and my administrators. Cheating is not glorified and there are many steps we take in TRYING to ensure the security of the testing. Making a blanket statement about distrusting us isn’t helpful. We need you out there praising the good and helping us get rid of the bad! You volunteered to come in and help. I think that is the first step in the right direction. Way to go! Wish I had you in my district. Cheating is BAD and hopefully that will be addressed without accusations flying around about all of us. Goodness, I know I am one of many that would be scared to death to do something like that! It certainly isn’t worth costing my reputation as a good teacher. Wish all this energy was “canned and available for purchase where we need it”! Lots of information out there to read and ponder before jumping to conclusions about all teachers and school personnel.
d
February 10th, 2010
9:33 pm
People respond to incentives in predictable ways — and guess what will happen the second “pay for performance” linked to test scores comes to Georgia schools. E-mail your senators. SB386 MUST DIE!
Public School Parent
February 10th, 2010
9:39 pm
I think the taxpayers in the City of Atlanta should demand that Ms. Hall return all those huge bonuses she gets based on student performance. Obviously they were not earned. This is just incredible and shameful and terribly sad for the students.
It will be very interesting to see if any teachers come forward. I have long wondered if the erasures are made by administrators after the teachers turn in the tests.
If you have been teaching students who were several grade levels behind and then learn that they either met or exceeded expectations on the CRCT, wouldn’t you think something was fishy?
Happy Teacher
February 10th, 2010
9:40 pm
This scandal will be the best thing to happen to merit pay. So many schools and districts have the testing thing down tight, the cheating districts and schools will have no choice now but to tighten up as well. If nothing else, that much good should come out of this abomination.
Kids R GreaT
February 10th, 2010
9:44 pm
Raise your hand if you cheated! Just as I thought.
Now that is the way to find all those cheaters!
I teach and I feel very defensive about all this. Boy…all I can say is there are a lot of folks out there with a tremendous amount of ill will against the schools. Many opinions about tons of stuff are being aired, but not much is being said to give solutions…..so , short of firing all of us and hiring all of you….what other ideas do you have? As for me, I will continue to give all I can to my babies each day. I will continue to go above and beyond what is asked of me and I hope that my future students will continue to come and invite me to their college graduations and their weddings! I love teaching. My students learn!
I Teach Too!
February 10th, 2010
9:46 pm
Today is a sad day! Many of you express your opinions or make unsupported accusations, but I work in the trenches everyday. I see teachers who get to work early to tutor kids and stay extremely late to work with kids. We have Saturday school. We provide enrichment activities after school and even sponsor numerous field trips trying to provide the exposure and experiences their parents do not or cannot provide. Why? We are trying to close the achievement gap. We work really hard. Please don’t be so quick to assume the worst in people. Some…I think most teachers in APS are offended by the accusations. Our efforts are finally paying off. Our children are making improvements, and I believe for the most part the gains are real. If you know anything about statistics, then you know you can make data show whatever you want it to show. This entire situation is a witch hunt by our governor who wants to discredit Beverly Hall, APS, and the gains made by minority children.
Legend of Len Barker
February 10th, 2010
9:49 pm
There are ways to cheat CRCT. I worked in a middle school, though not as a classroom teacher. I did sit in one year as an extra pair of eyes in one teacher’s classroom. We played by the book, which is proven by exceedingly low amount of flagged tests.
I cannot blame any school that cheats. The CRCT is very flawed. It fails to take anything into account except a pass/fail ratio. You can flunk if a certain percentage of minorities fail, including Hispanic children who came to your system speaking no English. You can flunk if your special ed kids actually test out as, you know, special ed and fail the test. You can be needs improvement if your parents don’t make their kids go to school and the absence rate is too high.
The CRCT fails to understand that Johnny might move in a week before the test and he came from another school system. Hey, Johnny’s in your school on the days of the test, so he’s your problem. At some point Georgia History is slated to count as something kids must past. Suppose little Susie moves in a week before testing and she’s from Montana. The CRCT says it’s your fault that Susie doesn’t know Georgia History.
Until the state admits just how terrible the CRCT is for schools, teachers, and students, I refuse to vilify any system who is desperate. If the pass/fail were only on paper without any consequences, yes. But the stakes are too high and rely too much on an incredibly flawed program and approach to education in the state of Georgia.
True, there are some bad teachers, but there are also plenty of bad parents and plenty of bad students. The problem is that only the teachers have the finger pointed at them.
Educator
February 10th, 2010
9:51 pm
To: State Department of Education, Governor Sunny Perdue, Superintendents, Principals, Assistant Principals, Teachers, Parents, &
Significant Others:
And My people who are called by My name humble themseleves
and PRAY, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways
then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin,
and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles:14
You may not believe it, but I do!!!!!! PUT PRAYER BACK IN
SCHOOL FOR THE SAKE OF OUR FUTURE, GOD!
QueenBea
February 10th, 2010
9:54 pm
What is more suspicious to me is the schools with NO percentage of erasures…HMMmm.. how could that be possible????
Now What?
February 10th, 2010
9:54 pm
I Teach Too, I’m sure your principal LOVES you! I know for FACT that cheating happens in MOST APS schools. That doesn’t mean the teachers don’t work hard. They go above and beyond their duties every single day. But, when you have students who come to you 2 and 3 grade levels behind, even if you get that child to move up by 2 grade levels, they still won’t be “on level”. You can continue to be blind or overlook evidence if you like. But, I and many other responders are witnesses that cheating is much more common than you think. Even when teachers aren’t cheating, administrators are. I’ve seen it happen.
Maureen, do you really want the truth? My posts seem to have been ignored, and many of us are telling you that we know the truth first hand.
john konop
February 10th, 2010
10:02 pm
Kathy Cox has been hiding the decline in PSAT scores. Does it make any logical sense that CRCT scores would go up unless something was wrong? Why would anyone think a one size fit all curriculum that failed in New York, Washington… would work here?
This is like a general sending the troops out with pocket knives and wondering why the troops are dysfunctional from top to bottom while getting shot at!
Kathy Cox please resign before you do any more damage!
Test Instead of Teach Teacher
February 10th, 2010
10:07 pm
Happy Teacher, You have no clue! Your naivete is showing (at best) or your lack of knowledge and teaching experience (at worst).
Happy Teacher
February 10th, 2010
10:11 pm
Yeah, another teacher with no clue about education. Sorry.
If we look at the “other” results of this scandal, we see a LOT of teacher doing the right thing. All the time. No excuses made. Ever.
So, I feel like they should be rewarded for doing their job well, because, most likely, they made value-added gains with their students this year as well. With as thankless as being a teacher can be, a merit-based acknowledgement of a job well-done would be great for the good teachers in Georgia.
d
February 10th, 2010
10:12 pm
john konop….. right now our General Assembly is prepared to do more damage than Kathy Cox ever could. If we, the people of Georgia, don’t stand up to the General Assembly, any chance of economic recovery is out the door. Companies aren’t going to continue to move to Georgia (Kia and NCR just to name two in the last year or two) if they cannot count on a good public school system for their employees’ children — and their future work force.
CharterStarter, too
February 10th, 2010
10:12 pm
Hey Collin, please check the charter schools law and state board rule – it’s illegal for private and/or private schools to become a charter.
Totally unregulated? Kindly explain what you mean. Our charters have to report to their authorizers, and once yearly they complete an annual report and publish their audit results.
It’s fine to critique, but could you kindly stick to criticizing something you can factually speak about?
ScienceTeacher671
February 10th, 2010
10:12 pm
John Konop, if ITBS scores were stellar, I suspect DOE would be publicizing them as well.
Maureen Downey
February 10th, 2010
10:14 pm
QueenBea, It wasn’t that the schools had no erasures. They had none that exceeded the averages.
Maureen
MS Man
February 10th, 2010
10:21 pm
Not that it really matters, but kids are only counted for AYP academic achievement on the CRCT if they are in the classroom for the Full Academic Year. FAY means that they were enrolled during the October FTE count and the March FTE count in the same school. If they weren’t there all year, they don’t count towards the academic achievement scores for a school. They do count for attendance, but not academic achievement.
Maureen Downey
February 10th, 2010
10:22 pm
Now what, Under the proposed merit pay, you will be rewarded if you move that child up by two grade levels, even if the child remains below grade level.
I think there is no doubt that cheating is occurring, based on the data review, which was color blind and purely flagged schools on aberrant patterns.
I would like the truth of how cheating is occurring. So please share it with us or e-mail me directly at mdowney@ajc.com.
What I don’t get is why so many teachers here report seeing cheating firsthand. My question to all of you: What did you do about it when you saw it?
If you reported it, what happened. If you did not report it, why not?
Maureen
Sponge Bob
February 10th, 2010
10:25 pm
Hey Dr. Hall, please go get your “Superintendent of the Year” Award, place it in the box it came in and return to sender. Once you are done with that, go get a broom so you can sweep up the pieces of your shattered career.
Test Instead of Teach Teacher
February 10th, 2010
10:26 pm
Happy Teacher, This has nothing to do with “other” teachers. It has nothing to do with “excuses”. This has everything to do with merit pay making this problem worse. Test scores do not “prove” better teachers. Some of the BEST teachers work at Title 1 schools who usually have lower scores because of poverty, transient rate, etc. Many high scoring schools do not have these problems, thus, contributing to their higher scores. Test scores “prove” what schools have less problems and more resources. Hopefully, I stated this in a way a former chef, like yourself can understand. Teach a little bit longer and your rose colored glasses will change their tint.
Happy Teacher
February 10th, 2010
10:27 pm
Maureen-
We had a number of students transfer to our school this year who were supposedly “level 3″ on the CRCT, but who scored in the single digits on our diagnotic tests. Most of these students went to the same school before transferring, which raised all kinds of red flags.
I reported the findings directly to Ms. Mathers at OSA and she was extremely attentive and helpful. And, apparently, since the school in question had a huge number of classrooms in question, she has revealed what we reported.
Now, if we can just undo the harm done to these kids as quickly…
Maureen Downey
February 10th, 2010
10:30 pm
Sponge Bob, Is there any way she emerges unscathed from this?
Maureen
Now What?
February 10th, 2010
10:31 pm
I listed several ways cheating occurs in an earlier post. The truth is there. I know of teachers who tried to speak up and were “punished” for it by their admins. Suddenly, their evaluations were all bad. They were getting write ups for all kinds of things. etc…. The principals have ways of “getting you” if you make them mad. And, there’s no one to really report it to. The central office doesn’t take teacher complaints seriously unless it becomes a lawsuit. And, for teachers who REALLY speak up, they often find ways to terminate them or force them to quit. It’s a big mess.
john konop
February 10th, 2010
10:33 pm
d,
The truth is tax revenue is dying and the Perdue budget is based on 4.5% growth. The truth is the budget might have to add another 1 billion dollars of cuts on top of the current proposed cuts.
In my opinion I would cut the DOE, 20% of all administrators, 20% cut back on salaries of employees making over 6 figures, consolidate resources of colleges and vocational with High Schools, raise lunch prices, fuel charge for buses, make sure all sport teams cash flow on participation fees before taking money away from teachers and the classroom.
I warn without the tough love cuts I proposed and more, you will see 4 day school week, major teacher layoffs, teacher pay cuts……..
I challenge Maureen or anyone at the AJC or on his blog to do the math on the Perdue budget and tell me how I am wrong! And if you think a tax increase will fly in this job market you need to look around at your unemployed or underemployed friends.
Maureen Downey
February 10th, 2010
10:33 pm
Now what, Now, there is the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. I think it is safe to say that Kathleen Mathers will take complaints seriously, as Happy Teacher’s experience suggests.
You can also complain to the media. The AJC began its yearlong look at CRCT scores because of teacher complaints to us of cheating. It was those stories that led to the state actions, so I think teachers who complain are being heard. (I think it is fair to say that the extent of score tampering surprised even the reporters who have been working on this story for a year.)
Maureen
Happy Teacher
February 10th, 2010
10:38 pm
You hit the nail on the head Maureen. Teachers need to stand up way more often than they do. I think they would be pleasantly surprised by what they find they can accomplish.
Maureen Downey
February 10th, 2010
10:39 pm
John, I don’t think you are wrong, but I don;’t think there is political will to do some of those things, including cutting back on high salaried employees, raising lunch prices or making certain participant fees underwrite sports. Nor do I think those changes are enough. I think we will have four day weeks and more furloughs.
Maureen
john konop
February 10th, 2010
10:45 pm
Maureen Downey,
I appreciate your honesty! Why not lay out the problem and make it a post on your blog? I really do think you would provide a major service to the community educating people about this issue so voters can ask informed questions to the people running for office
AJC policy
February 10th, 2010
10:47 pm
Ms. Downey, you have stated that you want to know the truth of how cheating is occurring and to please share it or e-mail me directly at mdowney@ajc.com.
If people were to share their concerns on this blog, does the AJC have a written policy that would protect the anonymity of bloggers by preventing AJC employees from sharing identifying information with school or government officials who don’t like what’s being posted?
Do you have a personal policy as far as protecting the anonymity of those who would blog or email you? I think there are those out there who might be willing to add their voices to this blog, but for them, trust is an issue.
d
February 10th, 2010
10:49 pm
Maureen,
GAE has been pushing for a temporary 1/2 cent sales tax — ear marked for education. I’ve mentioned this here in previous blogs too, but Representative Lindsey has pretty much dismissed the idea out of hand. Look at some numbers though. 1/2% is a 50-cent increase on a $100 purchase, hardly an impact to most people, but better yet, how many people flying through — just connecting — at Hartsfield-Jackson buy a cup of coffee, how many people drive through Georgia on their way to Florida and so on would be assisting with paying for Georgia’s education? I really think the General Assembly needs to look very seriously at this idea.
Maureen Downey
February 10th, 2010
10:54 pm
AJC policy, We would never give school systems or anyone else any information about posters here or their e-mails. However, news reporters have asked me to send e-mails to posters and ask if they would talk to a reporter. I see the posters’ e-mails as moderator, but reporters don’t have that access so they have to ask me for them. Not all posters use real e-mails so some folks cannot be contacted. But you can post here without worrying about your e-mail being sent to anyone. Again, if AJC reporters read a comment, they might say please see if “Unhappy in Cobb” or “Happy in Rockdale” will allow me to contact them. But that’s the limit to any contact outside of the blog.
Maureen
AJC policy
February 10th, 2010
10:59 pm
Thank you Ms. Downey, that’s good to know. Let’s hope this leads to more people willing to share on this blog, and help bring about some changes.
retired
February 10th, 2010
11:03 pm
Science teacher..you said all that needs to be said!
Pompano
February 10th, 2010
11:10 pm
All that we seem to get for throwing more money at education is +$100k administrators and a whole host of personnel that never actually get up in front of a class and teach. Instead of getting rid of poor performing teachers (like the ones trying to justify/defend the cheating here in this blog), we make up positions to place them in that create a major drain on the system (Data Specialist, Graduation coaches, etc). As taxpayers, it’s difficult to convice us that additional dollars will not just be tossed into a black-hole with no accountability.
I can certainly understand the outrage on the part of honest teachers – no organization can deliver high-performance without effective leadership from the top – and it really bites that this reflects negatively on many of you that do not deserve it. Sounds like the cheating at APS is very organized – and if you cannot understand taxpayer outrage at this then you’re likely not one of the innocent ones.
john konop
February 10th, 2010
11:15 pm
ScienceTeacher671
Great point!!!!
Teachasa2ndCareer
February 10th, 2010
11:19 pm
I have been an APS teacher for 7 years. This is a calling for me and I teach in what is classified as an urban area. Also, I have been an APS Parent for over 14 years. I have met some outstanding teachers and now I consider myself one of them. I work hard as a teacher by not only guiding my students through their education but continuously representing a model of learning. Cheating is not something that I have seen at my school. We tell our children (& my own children) to go back and review your answers. I have seen at least 3-5 erasures on each test over the years. A few kids are nervous and don’t look forward to this time of the year at all. So, are we not to tell children to check their answers especially those that they aren’t quite sure about? We are constantly bombarded with reform models and overloading of testing before we even take the state test. We are asked to guide kids who come to us 2-3 years behind, who can’t read, who come throught the door with a lot of emotional baggage. I don’t mind accountability and I don’t mind being assessed to see what a child knows. What I do mind…are politicians and others who don’t have a clue of what’s involved; 1 test that determines the movement of a child instead of a percentage of the final grade; adminstrators who don’t involve teachers in the decision process of curriculum and instruction; funds that are cut for tutoring; parents who refuse and don’t take the time out to get involved with their child’s progress; students who angrily and sometimes violently interrupt classes on a daily basis; connecting pay to the CRCT; the uneven support from political, social, corporate, and educational groups between the predominant urban areas and the predominant suburban areas; no pre-k program for all kids; no mandatory schooling until the age of 6 (i.e. kids don’t have to attend kindergarten); comparing and trying to model American schools that are homegenous to schools around the world that are mostly heterogenous where some test less–have longer school days—go to Saturday schools—have more teacher planning time—less school days; and that I am the only one that should be accountable. We all are responsible and accountable and until we begin to listen and incorporate both worlds then we will never get close to solving this issue. Bottom line…I love my family & I like what I do. On test day, the kids know what they know. By the way, my husband and I are parents that have 3 kids and do what we are suppose to do….check the teachers, check our children, check ourselves and make absolutely sure that homework is completed, teachers are contacted, and our children are supported when material is difficult!
BlondeHoney
February 10th, 2010
11:22 pm
Lou, I’m not a teacher but I am a parent with an endless amount of respect for teachers and I did NOT ‘buy’, as you say, my degree from the Universityof Phoenix, I worked exceedingly hard for it and deserved it. I’m offended by your insinuation.