CRCT tampering: Crisis in confidence, character and conscience for APS

so where’s the list?

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I did student teaching and field experiences in APS from 2002-2004 and cheating was RAMPANT then. Those same students are now in middle school, making nowhere near the scores they made in elementary. Let’s have an honest conversation about cheating, and the bullcrap reform models that teachers in urban systems are forced to use.

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Are the national tests that show improvement in APS now in question? They were given in the same school and administered by the same adults-you tell me.
The cheating on the tests is bad enough. However, it is nothing compared to the cheating of the students by the system.
Why are we putting so much stock in a test?
What are the tests measuring?
Why do we bother to test students every year if there is no consequence (i.e. no holding students back for remediation so that the students can learn)?
What we do is test, test, test in elementary and middle school, ignore the results (or fudge them), socially promote students until they get to high school, and then bemoan a high drop out rate and low graduation rates.
None of this makes any sense.

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This kind of cheating and lying will continue to be endemic as long as the supervising Board is as spineless and cowed as Atlanta’s is, and while those who financially benefit from test scores are the ones presiding over the test process. The losers are the taxpayers, who have paid for services that have not been rendered, and most especially the students, who are not even minimally prepared to advance academically.

It is even more horrifying to know that the students’ failure is on the CRCT, a dumbed-down test that has been crafted by the state DOE to reflect the classroom curriculum and to minimize the failure rate.

Any competent supervisor would anticipate the conflict of interest inherent in Georgia’s test protocol, and would have at minimum initiated a switch among teachers to ensure that no teacher proctored a test from which they or their school would benefit, and that no administrator had access to answer sheets from their own school. Additionally, there would be post-test monitoring in place to uncover instances of cheating so that those involved could be disciplined and act as a deterrent for others.

With cheating so widespread within APS, Hall and her vile little Mini-Me, Deputy Superintendent for Instruction Kathy Augustine, both had to know and tacitly condone the practice. In addition, the Atlanta Board of Education has ceded all active power to Hall without any effective oversight, and has abandoned the students and taxpayers in the process. Every top administrator in APS should be put on probation, Hall and Augustine should repay their performance bonuses and leave, and criminal investigations for fraud should be started against them. The administrators and teachers involved in the classrooms under review should also go on probation with the possibility of pursuing criminal charges if cheating is proven to have occurred.

Our children have been betrayed and our coffers defrauded for personal gain. It is the most intolerable theft yet.

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Where there is this much pressure to perform, cheaters will abound. The only way to insure honesty is to bring in outside test administrators who give the test and then take the answer sheets away from the school. Is this cost effective? No way.

The whole premise that standardized testing is this valuable is really flawed. The whole system needs to be scrapped.

By the way – many researchers say the data indicates that our standardized testing and imitation of emerging third world countires should be titled “Race to the Bottom.” I agree!

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I had the same questions but I found this info from the article is useful in terms of methodology:
“The analysis conducted for the state by CTB-McGraw Hill looked for answers changed from wrong to right on spring 2009 language arts, reading and math CRCT answer sheets for grades one through eight. A classroom was flagged for each subject-area test in which the average number of answer changes per student was unusually high.

The state defined unusual as three standard deviations above the statewide average. Standard deviation is a measure based on the distribution of results around the average such that, with a normal distribution, 99.85 percent of results should be less than three standard deviations above the average.

Schools with 25 percent or more of classrooms flagged for unusually high answer changes were placed in the severe concern category. The moderate concern category comprised schools with 11 percent to 24 percent of classrooms flagged. The minimal concern category comprised schools with 6 percent to 10 percent of classrooms flagged.”

Kathleen Mathers, director of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, said schools with as many as 5 percent of classrooms flagged were classified as “clear,” partly to allow for the occasional student who inadvertently skips a line on the answer sheet, then makes several erasures to correct the mistake.

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Maureen,

With its Office of Mathematics and Science Initiatives, isn’t APS involved with designing the math CRCTs in the 1st place or is it only the math EOCTs?

We know OMSI is designing the learning tasks in the state’s Instructional Frameworks and APS prides itself on its fidelity of implementation.

APS has been at the heart of Georgia’s reform math since the Atlanta Systemic Initiative began about 15 years ago. The empirical evidence that’s part of the record in that Seattle case predicts that “at risk” will have real difficulties with discovery math. That is the same population as these schools in the severe category.

This involves the futures of real children. It looks like too many adults in APS see the students merely as conduits for funding, not responsibilities.

Does anyone know what the reading method used in APS is?

Is it Guided Reading perhaps?

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I have been a teacher in APS for 14 years and I agree with much of the press. I have witnessed students with extremely high test scores not being able to comprehend basic information. This no doubt is a result of CHEATING. Many schools are so eager to receive a bonus check for meeting Dr. Hall’s targets that they result to almost anything. It is a shame! Further, APS is nothing but the good ole boy network. Regardless of how qualified you are for a position, if you don’t know someone—forget about it! Principals are quick to hire their friends, sorority sisters, frat brothers etc. for positions that they know they are not qualified for.
It is time for Dr. Hall to do a complete overhaul of the system. She should move around or get rid of most of the principals, assistant principals, and instructional specialists at all the schools with minimal, moderate and severe issues of cheating.

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I assume the cheaters are the exception, rather than the rule. Who ever commited the crime or help should pay dearly. On a side note, I think that it is funny that the HOPE is not availible for kids who homeschool because of concern for parent cheating on grades.

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APS does use the Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading program to “teach” reading. That’s the program that is what the Whole Language movement morphed into after all the bad press.

They also require (in their agreements with charter schools) their schools to adopt the constructivist philosophy of teaching.

APS is validating that “learning by doing” is a very dangerous method for “at risk” kids to learn reading and math.

Given a choice between explicit instruction of reading and math and cheating to hide the terrible outcomes of these poor instructional choices, many APS schools turn to cheating.

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couties should be able to elect supers and they need term limits.

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I have taught for 11 years in urban school districts. CHEATING is more widespread than you think. It will continue as long as teachers are held completely accountable for student achievement instead of holding parents accountable for their children. I say APS needs to revamp and be run by the state department of education or an outside source until they can manage teaching and testing without cheating. It is almost impossible to teach inner-city kids who come to school dirty, hungry, and 2-3 years behind their suburban peers. Inner-city kids are TEN times harder to teach than their suburban counterparts because their schools are guinea pigs for the district. I taught in one Title I school that tested every new program that came out while the richer schools in the district did not test out any. Once the program was tweaked in the poverty-level school and pefected, it was then used at the richer schools. Teachers are wrong for CHEATING!!!! However, the state department of education is also wrong for placing soooooooooo much emphasis on testing rather than good teaching. Every teacher is not qualified to teach inner-city kids.

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This is pathetic! Now, one can see the need for some legislation going through the system to make it punitive for teachers/administrators who cheat. This is a major black eye for Georgia; for the Georgia teaching profession; and a sign that Georgia administrators are in dire need of courses in ethics and leadership! They will not have credibility when they cry for more SPLOSHes!

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I worked at APS prior to Dr. Hall’s tenure. Cheating is by no means a new phenomena–it was rampant then too! There was so much pressure from principals to increase test scores…and by any means. It appears it’s business as usual…though things may even be worse today. I feel so sorry for all the children at APS who are being short changed and continue to be short changed by a self-serving hierarchy who’s only interest is to force quick improvement in test scores which lead to fatter paychecks. Shame on you all!

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What’s Purdue’s angle in this? I mean, he’s the biggest do-nothing in history and all the sudden he is just outraged over what is going on in APS. I don’t suppose it would have anything to do with the fact that those kids are minority and poor. With Sonny being what he is (and his supporters being what they are), I wonder what kind of racism is lurking behind all his sanctimony.

Thanks, massa.

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@ Attentive Parent- Many urban students in APS are using a scripted reading program (SFA, Direct Instruction etc.), that is not half as good as guided reading. Also, guided reading is only one aspect of a balanced literacy program. It is not meant as a primary means of teaching reading.

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Nikole-

I am going off the mandated template in the contract for an APS charter school and what they refer to as balanced literacy then goes on to list the methods and books to be used which are strictly whole language like Fountas and Pinnell and Lucy Calkins. They have to misportray both sides of the debate to get to GR as balance. Marie Clay has been quite adamant that there will be no teaching of phonics in her programs. The template also requires the use of Investigations for math.

I can quote you precisely what F&P say their intentions are with their “phonics” books. To summarize, it is to shut parents up without teaching the letter-sound correspondence directly.

If what you say is true please cite or link the examples of this type of program. That would make parents very happy as this really is about the futures of APS students. I can provide links to APS documents verifying every fact above.

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Maureen
l looked at the website. It seems to me that certain schools that were majority African-Americans population were targeted than the Caucasian population. I can’t believe that White Children don’t erase answers too. The state seems to only target certain districts. How in the H can anybody go by erase marks? This is just another tactic to try and keep Blacks down. If you don’t believe me see it for yourself.

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***demographic*** sorry—brain freeze on this word

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I’m not saying that cheating is right in any way, shape, or form, but there is TOO MUCH PRESSURE put on principals, instructional specialists, and teachers for students to perform well on standardized tests. THE PARENTS AND STUDENTS NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE AS WELL!! Teachers don’t go home with students at night to ensure that they read, study, and do their homework. Many parents with kids that attend the more poverty sticken APS school don’t even take an interest in their children’s learning (I’m speaking from experience). If students perform poorly on the CRCT, teachers are labeled as “bad teachers” and forced to complete pages upon pages of interventions for their students. The teacher is not always in total control, especially with “at-risk” students. Way too much emphasis is put on the CRCT as a predictor of teacher effectiveness and student learning. We need to use multiple measures (e.g., portfolios and performance assessments) and growth models to truly measure student achievement and take some of accountability off of teachers and administrators for achieving high test scores.

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Anyone who has ever worked for APS knows about the cheating. It’s done all over, and it’s very open. Every year, a new story comes out about it, but nothing is done. How is this time any different? If I know firsthand about cheating, is there someone I can contact?

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Well it took only 31 posts before “Northview (Ex)teacher” played the race card – followed up most pathetically by “Welcome to our little World of Dekalb”.

Hey Northview & Dekalb – why don’t you rationally ask yourselves why it is predominantly minority schools where cheating is rampant? Of course I really don’t have any problem with your schools graduating kids who are dumb as rocks (and are not even aware how clueless they are). As a wise man once said – the world needs ditch diggers. Hail to APS’s committment to creating the next generation of ditch diggers.

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This is what happens when the whole school year is based on one week worth of tests. The government smiles in parents’ faces and tell them how they just want their children to do well then threaten schools with a Needs Improvement label when they don’t score well in that week. Then if you get off the list or your school has been successful after so many years, then they want to question why are you scoring well. Schools are darned if you do, darned if you don’t.
We are on a time limit with the tests. Those students work up until the last minute, we turn our tests in immediately after testing so the kids can breathe a sigh of relief of that test being over. Tell me when did teachers have time to even reread the tests to determine the answers much less change them. Parents, we don’t see those CRCT tests until the students receive those sealed booklet and they don’t come with answers.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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!

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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.

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What is more suspicious to me is the schools with NO percentage of erasures…HMMmm.. how could that be possible????

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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!

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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 through 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; administrators 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 homogenous to schools around the world that are mostly heterogeneous 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 love my calling. On test day, the kids know what they know and they remember what they can.

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!

Ditto, TeachToo!

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Finally! What took GOSA so long to confirm what teachers in APS have been reporting for years. I teach in APS and know firsthand that cheating occurs on the CRCT. There are some great teachers in APS that work in the trenches every day to educate children who are more than 2 grade levels below grade level, but greedy principals, money hungry executive directors, fake model teachers and incompotent instructional coaches overshadow the true work of teachers. At the beginning of this school year, the staff was informed by the new principal that she would place anyone on a Professional Developement Plan who did not have at least 77% of their students passing the test. She also told us to make sure students pass by any means. Humm? Wonder what she really meant? It was rather funny to see that the school she headed last year had one of the largest percentages for erasure marks.

At my former school in APS, when we received kids from the elementary schools and were asked by the students, while taking a district benchmark, how were we going to “tap” out the answers—I automatically knew something was wrong! When we complained to the Executive Director, not only did she get rid of our principal but threatened to have our jobs if we spoke of our findings to anyone else. The principal wrote letters to the OIR department and made phone calls to report it, but the Director of OIR swept that under the rug just like she did all the other complaints. It is time for Dr. Hall to clean house from her office (Augustine, Executive Director, Office of Research, etc.) all the way down to principals and classroom cheats who do not care about the education of children. Let the REAL teachers teach. So you see Maureen, APS teachers report cheating and try to follow protocol, but most have stopped this since those who report cheating seem to lose their jobs or are forced out of the system.

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OMG surely you are not playing the race card here?????

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Can you say diploma mill? Clayton’s new supt. actually thought those were “real” degrees. Maybe he has figured that out by now.

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The funny thing is those bought Dr.’s will never even make back what it cost them to buy the degree. But I guess being call Dr. is worth it. Dr. Dumb.

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Big difference between being educated and being intelligent people. Way too many doctorates and master’s floating around on the pay scale. There was a Dr. so-so as principal at my school who was rather inarticulate and couldn’t correctly format a letter without grammar mistakes. I mean even with spell check? I am sorry, but I have yet to meet a University of Phoenix, Walden, Capella grad that I respect.

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As a teacher I can assure you that there is a tremendous amount of pressure to perform on the test. Yet, there are easy fixes to this problem. First, stop allowing systems to place students that do not meet standards. They do not have to go back into a traditional classroom but into a “different” classroom. There are many teachers I work with that would love to work with this group. Systems do not want or are unwilling to admit they have problems. Second, stop classroom testing. If you are going to test – do it in the gym or lunchroom. A large setting with multiple monitors. Third, stop making excuses about where students come from. Special ed students have learned to game the system and so have other students. Set a standard and make them meet the standard. Finally, I wish I would meet a politician that would admit that every child is not college bound. Allow students a vocational track. Do not track them but let them choose. I just read an article where plumbers, welders heating/AC repair and mechanics would always be in demand. Open this up WITH academics. I am sure there are many exploratory/connection classes where this would work. Just how valuable is a computer class where students spend class drawing flowers every day? How valuable is a career class where they copy career information off a board? These are fillers that serve as babysitters. The school I work at has a lead teacher whose only job is to get the lowest of the low to the next grade. He puts enormous pressure on teachers to make each kid pass and then at the end of the year makes them justify (in report format) why this kid did not pass. So, they do no meet standards, go to the next grade, don’t perform and teachers are under extreme pressure. Cheating is never right and NEVER should be tolerated. BUT, why not deal with the causes at the same time? If the lead teachers are so great (coaches, etc.) why not let them have the students that cannot and make them cans. ALSO, how many posters to this article are non-teachers? Do you mentor in the the public school system? Tutor? Volunteer?

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Posted earlier today on Kyle Wingfield’s AJC blog where he said that testing shouldn’t be eliminated. Thought I would share here as well.

“Kyle, I agree with you that testing has to stay, however, No Mas has a GREAT POINT. I am a parent at one of the schools in the “moderate” category and I am extremely active (PTA Board, room parent, Local School Council). I am also a former teacher from another state w/a Masters degree from a top 10 school and I CHOOSE to volunteer right now rather than work so that I can do what NCLB claims will strengthen schools and that is to be a participating parent. Keep in mind that in addition to the standardized tests, there are also tests every 3 weeks to monitor progress at many schools. These are not spelling tests, etc., but data driven tests to make sure students are on target and to re-teach if they are not.

My principal is phenomenal, but today that same Principal will be sneered at for something I know wasn’t done under his/her watch. Let’s keep in mind that teachers are not the only people who have access to the tests. The tests go thru the hands of proctors from outside of the school who are on the grounds to supervise, they go thru the hands of paraprofessionals, learning specialists, assistant principals and a host of other staff depending on who is designated to do what on testing days. Remember that also, in addition to making state standards, that APS has it’s own set of TARGETS that they brag are more strenuous than what the state needs. They put the thumb of pressure on these educators in a way that I have never seen. It’s sad but done openly. Then they have a big rally or luncheon to “celebrate” all the schools that made or exceeded their targets while everyone around the table smiles, knowing that they’ve earned a bonus directly linked to test scores.

My question is this: Why not go back 5 years and investigate? THAT’s how you will really be able to see a pattern! You need to follow teachers and principals from school to school over the past 5 years if you truly want to see trends because many schools knew they were being watched closely in 2009 but no one would have thought the technology to “see” erasures existed 5 years ago. Going back one year proves little to nothing on it’s own. If you really want to see fireworks AJC, dig deeper. By only focusing on 2009, you’re missing the meat of the story. If you spend enough time around Georgia educators you will hear stories of cheating. Of course they always tell the story of someone else cheating, but still, it’s cheating. This little limited investigation will end up ending the careers of some people who had absolutely nothing to do with cheating, while others, who have moved out of the classroom and into the higher ranks or to other districts will get away scott free.”

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All we can hope is that there will be a bright side to this exposure. We have to start dealing with the realistic capabilities of these students. When the teachers put in great effort to teach students and the only way for the students to pass is through cheating then we have to change our way of thinking. What can they do? What is the most they can hope to achieve in life? We need to target our education more appropriately. So many of these children have problems that are real barriers to learning, i.e. drug-using parents, fetal alcohol syndrome, lack of role models, moving to a new apartment when the rent comes due, neglect, unhealthy diets, foster care, etc. They are not prepared to learn and it is a waste of our limited resources to pretend we can fight these things and put them on equal ground with our own advantaged and enriched children. I wonder if opening orphanages for these children is not a better solution than welfare to parents to remove them from their pitiful current situations. We might save a few that way.

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This is SO BOGUS. Small children are taught test taking skills of elimination. When they go through the elimination process THEY erase any answer they find may be incorrect and mark the correct one.
They should not generalize and think any erased answer was done by some adult.

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These are some very interesting statistics being reported on. However, regarding cheating, I do want to throw out one more scenario. Isn’t it possible that teachers could tell students to “leave all answers you are unsure of blank” and then go through and fill in the right answers. This scenario would presumably escape the methodology adopted by the state and accomplish the same objective.

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[...] Check out the lead in story below…..full story: HERE. [...]

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What I find upsetting is that the “reccomendation” for schools on the severe list is for the supernintendo to do an investigation. Um…. I don’t think Beverly Hall is going to turn herself in, do you? “Scandals” such as this one have come out before and nothing is ever done. I hope this raises the eyebrows of some folks who are in a position to take some real action.

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Here’s APS’s reply on their website. Sounds like the excuses are already coming:

APS Initiates Investigation into State CRCT Test Erasure Findings

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FEBRUARY 10, 2010

ATLANTA — APS has launched an investigation into the findings of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement’s analysis of Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) answer sheets for the 2008-2009 school year, which indicate that a large number of district schools experienced a high frequency of erasures in comparison with other school districts around the state.



APS is working closely with state officials to determine the root cause for this finding involving district schools. At the state’s request, the district will conduct a thorough and detailed review and analysis of CRCT test administration and procedures at the schools that experienced a higher than average frequency of answer sheet erasures on last year’s test. The district will also commission an independent review and analysis.



APS agrees with the state and independent testing experts that a larger than average number of erasures warrants further investigation, although erasure frequency in and of itself does not constitute evidence of testing irregularities in the absence of other factors.
 


Prior to the administration of the CRCT, students are specifically instructed to thoroughly review their answers and erase or change them as appropriate. 
 


In the event the investigations uncover testing irregularities, APS will take immediate action.

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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?

A teacher who would complain to an Administrator about cheating would be in danger of losing their job. Doesn’t take a brilliant mind to figure that out.

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Teachers in the nicer schools will actually have the harder time Sub, because the formula used will be a value-added system that rewards improvement over the course of a year. No passsing rates…that’s the (too) common misconception.

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How about looking at the schools in Clayton County who had 20% erasers. We will see if the new super has the guts to investigate them. He should is all I am going to say. And one of them was the Principal of the Year. Oh excuse me , Dr. Principal of the Year. Can you say joke?

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No the Clayton Co. superintendent is too busy investigating his chief of HR and his ladies.

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Maureen, to answer your question, I think that teachers feel that somehow their name may be leaked. It could be professional suicide.

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“Maureen, to answer your question, I think that teachers feel that somehow their name may be leaked. It could be professional suicide.”

PSC will not accept a complaint without a name – that name is not confidential.

Many times you will be retaliated against. Just an unfortunate fact.

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MyOpinion,

It’s not hard to tease out legitimate erasures from widespread cheating.

People are notoriously poor at forging random results. When crooks embezzle money, they are unable to randomize the last digits of monetary values.

Trust me, rooting out these cheats is not going to be difficult. What’s going to be difficult is convincing an innumerate community of the findings.

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To follow up on Mac: and there is NO special protection for the reporting teacher.

On the cheating: the next question is: at what level did the cheating take place? Was it in the individual classroom (teacher points to the answer, teachers’ voice indicates the answer (on part that is read to the students), or after the books are collected but before they are sent off to be graded. Most likely you’d think it was after the tests were completed, but before being sent off, as most of the test for most of the grades–certainly 3rd and 5th–are not read TO the students, and if a teacher was pointing to the correct answer it would be hard to go around and point to enough corrections during a testing session while still proctoring the test.

My vote would be during the “clean up” time, when staff checks for stray marks on the answer sheets. This could still have been done by individual teachers, perhaps, but more likely has involvement by testing administrators higher up than the teacher level.

Is Sonny smiling in this picture because he recognizes how foolish it is to base pay on something as poor and out of control as the CRCT is?

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I only WISH an AJC Reporter would contact me about what happened to a Cobb teacher. She sent this info to AJC but with no response. No one would help this lady and she was severely abused by a Cobb principal, one reason was because she balked about changing grades of PTA member’s children as the principal DEMANDED of her teachers.

For a solid year, the principal gave this sought after teacher living hell, then forced a non-renewal option to being terminated. I only WISH her story could be told. This same teacher was one of the principal’s star teachers until she turned on her. The teacher didn’t drop dead under the pressure of the trip through hell, but honestly, I don’t know why she didn’t. It was terrible. Absolute power should never rest in the hands of only one person.

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Why not report it to the State?

Is that supposed to help the whistleblower keep a job in the APS, or anywhere in GA for that matter? Are you naive?

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Maureen,
I looked up Glynn County (Burroughs-Mollette Elementary) on the results page. This school was marked “Clear- 0.0%”. How can this be true, since BMES was one of the schools in the first investigation? What am I missing?

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This is not only a career-ender for Bev Hall, but a legacy-killer. She must be heartbroken to be faced with the fact that she didn’t build anything at APS but a culture where fearful teachers cheated to protect their own skins. By ONCE AGAIN playing the “if only we could be sure” card in the face of enormous evidence, Hall once again reveals she truly only has one interest at heart: self-preservation. It won’t be enough.

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Cheating on test in APS is old history! The APS schools not on this list just cheated another way. They probaly just told the kids the correct answers to start with. I guess the other schools didn’t get the memo.

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Ben, I guess I am now a politician, and I completely agree that neither all children are bound for college nor do many want to go.
Why is the legislature going to pass a Bill that has NO PLAN?
Why are we continually failing students at the school level with no accountability for the DOE?
Why are teachers scared to report principals and area superintendents?
Because there is only accountability for teachers. There is no accountability for assistant principals, principals, areas supts, and up the ladder.
Perdue talks about making schools a business, but the only people who are held accountable are the teachers.
We need a partnership with schools, administrators, teachers, parents, students, and the communities. We HAVE to have this in order for our children to succeed.
http://willisforstatesuper.webs.com

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Sorry…I should have said that not all students want to go to university.

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I’m not sure who’s to credit for breaking this story, but I’m glad it’s receiving some press. The big crime is that it’s not receiving more press – locally and nationally.

APS has been a piggybank for corrupt administrators and their cronies for 30+ years. The losers are the citizens of GA and, in particular, the students who attend APS schools. Not much will change, however, until the citizens of the City of Atlanta demand more of their schools and their administrators. All I see and read is apathy from said parents and citizens.

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@sad APS Dad I have two kids in APS too. I can tell you what they are doing. Their principals are refusing to take certain kids!! They dump the low kids in the other schools. I use to work another middle school and we got kids all of the time, that were not in our district zone, but that were kicked out of those schools. They are sabotaging some schools and the others they say nothing when they transfer them out, or refuse to take them.

Since when does a principal have an option to not accept a student. Well at those schools they can and do. So it might not be every time, but it does happen more often than not. Trust me on that.

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It really stinks to know that the fact that I’ve taught with integrity, come early, stayed late, tutored in my free time (without pay), begged parents to take more interest, and spent my own money to help kids have basic materials and clothes has resulted in being accused of cheating, lying and abusing children.

I became a teacher because I believed that children in public schools deserve the same great education many children get in private school. I became a teacher to stop talking about how messed up our public schools are and actually do something about it. I hate the bureaucracy and the lack of parental involvement, but I love the children. I have worked hard for years to teach them NOT to cheat because it hurts everyone! I hate to think that all the time, money, energy, and stress I’ve spent trying to be a better teacher has been for nothing. People don’t respect the work I’m doing, and they believe we are only in this for money or to “save our skins”.

Not every teacher is cheating or so concerned with appearances that they will do anything to “raise the scores”. I told my principal when I interviewed for my current position that I don’t teach just for a test. I teach so my students will be ready for the world they inhabit. I still believe that. If the only thing we want to do is make sure they pass the test, what do we need school for? Why are we even arguing about any of this? There wouldn’t be a need for any of the hoops I’m constantly having to jump through to remain certified if the only purpose I’m serving is to tell kids the right circle to fill in.

I’m sure there are cheaters in APS. I haven’t seen any, and I don’t have first hand knowledge, but I’m not stupid. I’ve gotten children in my classroom over the years who have passing test scores and can’t read “see Spot run”. I have to take the children as they come to me, but I’m not going to cheat them by saying they are rocket scientists when they aren’t. I’ve been criticized for grading “too harshly” by parents who aren’t willing to read to or with their kids, but will do homework for them (which in my opinion is cheating…).

I want the cheating to stop. I want the hard work our students and good teachers are doing to mean something. I only hope this mess will lead more people to take an increased interest in their children’s educations, and to be more involved all year long (not to only be concerned when test scores are released).

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How does one earn…I say EARN…the title “Super of the Year”, when there appears to be a tremendous amount of turmoil within that over which the super reins? Incredible how the ed system has become so watered down, from the very top on down.

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Maureen, I have, first hand, listed on this blog schools, principals and issued in a very specific manner over the past 1-2 years in regard to mishandling of teachers, ethics and school district mishandling yet it has fallen on deaf ears. Even your predecessor did not ever so much as look into issues. I have written letters directly to Cathy Cox and NUMEROUS journalistic agencies to no avail. Teachers need a voice. Journalists have the platform to at least “inquire” about issues, especially ones that reoccur.
What you are hearing from educators is more of the norm than you are giving credit. Teacher abuse is widespread and deep. Just today on the news teachers, in reference to this CRCT scandal, admitted to being afraid to talk about the problem. That itself should be an indication of a problem. Retaliation is REAL in public education.

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Well it looks like I don’t have to keep you folks down all by myself……….you are doing quite a good job of keeping yourselves down.

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It is unfortunate that teachers are held accountable for everything…that’s why the cheating! Parents send their children to school and think nothing else of it. Teachers are left with disciplining the kids and educating them as well. Why such emphasis on this test? Teachers can teach but they cannot put the desire to do well in the students…this leads to cheating. I am not a cheater…I teach and yes…I pray for my students…that’s all I can do? PARENTS, I call you to step up and do your job. We need to hear from you before you kids fail our classes. We need you to email, volunteer, and check up on your kids year ’round. We cannot do it alone.

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Where is the outrage from the APS leadership? Where is the concern for the kids? Testing has its flaws but in Georgia we one of the lowest ranking states in the country in school test scores. So is our answer.. cheating… Is our answer.. look the other way.. these students are our future leaders that will be hurt by the actions of the APS leadership today….

The leadership must be fired.. cheating must stop.. and real educational progress must be pursued..

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I am a City of Atlanta resident, and have a 16 year old son. When we decided years ago to not give our son to APS, we took a lot a grief from other parents in the neighborhood who seemed to think we were either fascist, racist, or elitist. Payback is hell.

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Let me tell you what happens when you report.If you are Black you are treated like your concerns are not important, and all year long your are harassed by the principal.I know some teachers who were the best in the school system never cheated had a great track record. Reported a concern and now they are gone.If your are White in the school system they listen and try to fix the problem.
This is so much more that about the CRCT.You really need to did a little deeper into what the real issues are.Black principals, White principals. You would not believe the difference of how they are treated.What there schools get ,how they are given a slap on the wrist. White principals and teacher told just don’t do that again. Black principals and teachers written up but on a PDP.This is what happen daily in APS.

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New APS- you’ve got it backwards. Black teachers are promoted to administrative positions regardless of how incompetent they might be. (Notice how there are virtually no white admins in APS?)At my school, the administration socializes outside school with black teachers, allows them to skip out on meetings, does nothing when they fail to turn in lesson plans, etc. White teachers are harassed constantly and penalized for the smallest transgression. Race IS a huge factor in APS. But you’ve got it backwards- being black is an asset. Being white means you’re going nowhere fast.

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In the language of “Northview Teacher” we see “all the sudden” and other substandard English usage, as well as an attitude of wanting racial affirmative action or special license. Perhaps that person (”teacher”) is revealing why some of the students cannot pass the tests on their own. I have observed teachers who cry out “racism” when we supervisors tried to remediate their language usage from “it be’s” to “it is,” and refused to improve their own skills to be able to provide a good experience for students. Kids caught in classrooms with poorly educated teachers will merely perpetuate the ignorance. It is happening all over as our system is forced by quotas and racial mandates to hire and keep substandard and unqualified people as teachers. In addition, the nepotism among the inept is worse than in more educated schools because the inept want to surround themselves with other inept personnel who will not complain!
This is a case of the emperor’s new clothes! The smart, ethical folks must get in there and do serious house-cleaning and get rid of the incompetent, the ones who cannot smile at or motivate a child, and the ones who are hanging on by their “connections”!! Believe me, this situation exists rampantly!! It is not one rotten apple, but rather whole piles of them!

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States around our nation adopt achievement standards and tests precisely so that teachers will focus more on the knowledge and skills that the tests measure. Whether this is a problem depends partly on how effective the tests are, how well the tests are administered and monitored in the administration process, and partly on how well the students were being taught before.
Not all standardized tests are unsatisfactory. Some, such as those requiring long and short answers, performance tasks and writing samples provide more authentic assessments than do those with multiple-choice answers. Tests that measure complex concepts and extended reasoning encourage stimulating instruction. Many states require performance based tests which are more costly to administer and more time intensive in scoring. One of the problems with the CRCT is that it is multiple-choice and does not provide an accurate measure of the students’ knowledge and skills as would be demonstrated in performance tasks.
How many students have we all observed simply bubble in an answer, complete the test quickly and quietly lie their head down? How many times have we observed these same students getting lucky and receiving a high score? On the other hand, how many students have we observed getting their bubbles confused and not scoring well on the test despite their knowledge of the subject matter? Sadly, it appears that our state of Georgia also has administrative problems with the bubble in, erase the bubble, replace the bubble. This would not be easily accomplished with performance based assessments.
The way in which the results are reported and used also makes a critical difference. Georgia places emphasis on the Pass/Fail of the state test. Many states report learning gains in addition to the test scores for each student annually. Graphs of the gains are reviewed in the beginning of the school year and the data is disaggregated. Parents are given copies of the graphs and the explanation of the tests are part of the information to the parents. Schools and teachers are accountable for student gains. This allows all students to be given the opportunity to progress versus “pass or fail” a test. If Georgia had a system to report learning gains, there would be greater opportunities for teachers to “teach” versus “teach a test.” Test irregularities are also more easily detected.
High-stakes testing presumes that you can bring the bottom up, but it’s ludicrous if you don’t provide resources and support. Our schools need lower class sizes and increased instructional time, especially for high needs students. But quality costs money. We all know about the state of affairs with our educational budgets around our state…..
Nevertheless, as research indicates, high stakes testing has narrowed the achievement gap. The key in effective testing is the type of test, how the test is administered, and the resources that are in place to teach all students effectively. In addition, teachers should be given the freedom to teach students based on their needs versus teaching students to memorize the specific standards for a test.
Accountability for educational outcomes should be a shared responsibility of states, school districts, public officials, educators, parents, and students.

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@majii-testing security in APS follows the same procedures. Tests are due back in the office no later than 15-20 minutes after testing for the day is over. Teachers don’t have time to change scores. Teachers don’t have opportunities to change scores. And in middle school, teachers test their homeroom classes all week so teachers are administering tests in subjects that the teachers do not teach. In those severe middle schools you can bet it is not the classroom teacher who is changing answers.

As I’ve said before and in other places, many of our students come to us unable to read, write, spell, add, subtract, multiply, or divide. Some of those had very high GCRCT scores, some had never passed a test in their entire school careers, and some only pass the crucial tests during the crucial years. You can connect the dots.

Everyone should be clear that teaching faculties do not qualify for a bonus because the school makes AYP. the teaching faculty qualifies for a bonus if the school makes APS targets, which are differentiated and adjust upward each year. A school with a low income, minority population will have lower targets than a school near Chastain Park, or in Buckhead, or Midtown. That is an attempt to even out the score for everyone, but it doesn’t work well when school A has 55% of students passing the test (or ‘passing’ the test) and meets their targets and school B has 92% of their population pass the test, but their target was 98% and so school B is not as good as school A because school B did not make targets.

It is true, we do try every freaking reform model that comes down the pike. We make graphs and charts of the results of bi-weekly tests and post them for all to see. We are supposed to make certain that learning is fun and exciting. We are supposed to give the students hands-on learning experiences! When is the last time you did hands-on Language Arts? We have to jump through hoops to reflect a child’s failing grade. Several years ago we were told that we could not give students zeros for not doing their homework. The year after that APS eliminated the D. Students can get A’s, B’s, C’s, or F’s. Did I tell you how hard it is to give an F?

We have had five principals in six years at my school. We have had eight assistant principals. Without strong and consistent leadership how can we serve our extremely needy population? These are just some of the problems we face, and we are not alone. There is no way I could ever condone cheating on any test. The students suffer when the truth isn’t known. Ugly situations cannot be changed when ugly truths are glossed over, hidden or changed so the truth can’t be known.

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Many APS teachers are very well educated. Some of us have 3+ degrees that we earned the old fashioned way. The problem with APS is an incompetent administration that is hell bent on blaming the classroom teacher for everything wrong in the school. They need to stop hiring their frat sisters & brothers from around the country. Next stop taking private funds to run a public school system. If only the Board would rid itself of all that mess and let teachers teach their classes. There is a culture of distrust now in the schools. Two incompetent women from some hick place in NC and AL (no disrespect to those states) are trying to pit students against teachers. You’d better pass those students or we will get them to take you to OIR. Stop the nonsense APS. It is not the teachers. High School teachers inherited the mess you created in the elementary and middle schools. When did APS get so bad? When? Let us teach our students. If we are not smiling it is because you want robots who do the same thing at the same time in each classroom. Bill Gates we are not machines and our children are not guinea pigs. We are human; I think therefore I am. One size does not fit all. Most of us came into this profession because we wanted to help our kids. They are not learning anymore. These administrators do not care about our students. If they did, they would boot all that private influence out the door and make a real partnership. That partnership should be between the teachers, parents( by force if necessary), the community, administrators, and the taxpayers. We the people need to take back our schools from the testmongers and mindless computer screen game playing money grabbers. If not, the next generation will be undereducated and lost.
I asked my high school students if they had heard of “Things Fall Apart”, Silas Marner, “The Secret Garden”, “Up From Slavery,” “Oliver Twist”…the answer was no. They don’t read anymore because curriculums across the state and nation don’t require them too. So when I go home I cry. Don’t blame us teachers… We are all failing our children and a culture of distrust will not improve the quality of our public education. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that blaming teachers is convenient for everyone. Shut up and walk a mile in my shoes. Come teach my class for just 2 weeks. Then and only then administrators from out of town can you say anything to me. Do not come in with your stupid laptops and 5 other cronies every other day to observe. Get down into the trenches. You know you left the classroom because you couldn’t take the heat.

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The confidential tip line from the APS website:
I’m not sure how folks keep saying they are scared to be whistle blowers.

http://aps.schoolwires.net/186110121511421663/blank/browse.asp?a=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&c=55253&1861Nav=|&NodeID=67

Another aps Teacher, you’re exactly right, and thanks for pointing out the testing protocol. Classroom teachers could not possibly erase and correct tests in the time they have access to the materials (not to mention the different tests within a class).

I’ve been at several schools in APS during testing and have never seen any inappropriate testing environments or handling of testing materials, but I have seen questionable gains in scores by low-performing students. On the other hand, I have participated in “testing strategy” sessions in which students are taught how to choose the best answer through process of elimination, educated guessing, and one strategy includes marking a “guess” and marking the question with a star and coming back to re-think the answer. I wonder if any of that had an impact on the erasure numbers? Can erasures really indicate cheating so clearly?

There’s no question that it’s suspicious, but are the administrators at fault, like the Atherton folks, or someone higher up in the APS food chain? Knowing some of the administrators that are at flagged schools I’d be shocked if they were involved in cheating; however, some other administrators wouldn’t surprise me at all. Do I think Beverly Hall is involved and condones cheating? No. I think folks are scrambling to meet her standards and targets, and they are scrambling to show gains (even if they have not earned them) so that they don’t get on a PDP or lose funding for their schools.

We have a lot of exceptional administrators, to be sure, but there are some genuinely awful ones also. Someone on one of these blogs mentioned open.georgia.gov a site where you can look up any public school (or government) employee to find out how much money they earn. The second-highest paid APS employee was “Assistant Principal, Gerald Nelson” who earned $301,444 in 2009. What?? I looked him up, and learned that he was a principal that APS tried to get rid of, but he sued and was eventually re-instated as an administrator. I couldn’t find out where he is now, but I was wondering if that was his payoff for getting out of APS? I’ve been at schools that the principal has killed the school atmosphere, and it is disheartening how hard it is to get rid of bad seeds–plus, it’s very expensive.

I’m not naive, I’m sure cheating does happen, in APS and just about everywhere to some degree, but the sad result is that the already-maligned, stressed out, scrutinized, and belittled teachers of our state are bearing the brunt of all of these investigations. Is the outcome of the CRCT investigation going to be removal of bad teachers? bad administrators? bad policies? Probably not. But you can bet there will be more hoops for the good teachers to jump through and prove that they are people of integrity who care about children.

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@sad APS dad: Terry Davis is right. I work at an APS middle school and I know for a fact that the two “academically acceptable” middle schools in APS (as you put it) do not accept students who they feel will not be assets to their school or perform well on standardized tests. Subsequently, these students are forced to attend the other middle schools (which, I guess, are sub-par in your eyes). These students have academic, social, and emotional deficits, all of which impact student achievement. ALSO, these two schools have a tremendous amount of parental support and their students have high work ethics. Parents, on average, of the students I serve rarely attend PTA meetings or parent conferences–unless they are retrieving a confiscated electronic device–do not supply their children with essential school supplies, feed them breakfast, or make sure they are studying or doing homework at home. Furthermore, the middle schools (outside of your top two) constantly deal with high transient rates. This affects student achievement as well. Sometimes I feel as if my school’s main entrance is a revolving door. Kids are constantly enrolling and withdrawing, and we are also forced to accept students with extensive discipline records. And you wonder why these schools are not performing on the same level as the two “top” middle schools? Students of low SES have many problems that teachers alone can not handle. With these students, it truly “takes a village.”

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Agree with Equitable Accountability…back to parents. Some parents believe that dropping their kids off at school is enough. It is not enough.

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@Private School Parent: You’re kidding right??? You can’t be serious. APS teachers are held accountable for factors beyond their control that persons working in the private sector would never have to deal with. As you probably know, most APS students live in high poverty and many deal with a host of issues (e.g., emotional problems, lack of resources, poor socialization, lack of parental involvement regarding academics, low self-esteem, just to name a few). NOTE: these are generalizations; there are always exceptions. Despite the problems that students’ face and the lack of involvement and commitment from the parents, teachers are solely held responsible for student achievement regardless of the above-mentioned problems that are beyond a teacher’s control. It is my understanding that the job performance of persons working in the private sector is, for the most part, controlled by the workers themselves. The output is based on the input. This law or formula doesn’t apply to public education, especially in low SES schools. Teachers do follow students home to guarantee the continuation of learning outside of school. That is the parent’s responsibility, yet many parents are falling short in this area. There is NO way that the pressure faced by a teacher can be compared to that which is experienced in the private workplace. Go work in a high-poverty school for a least one year and your viewpoint will definitely change.

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Ex APS teacher, thanks SO much for sharing your experience. Maybe now, people will more clearly understand why so many teachers remain quiet about cheating. If you tell, you will receive the consequence, not the ones who deserve it!

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It will be interesting to see what the results for APS testing is this year when the exams are actually monitored by outside people. I think Sonny is just giving Beverly enough rope to hang herself. In the cheating schools, test results will drop by almost half. Just look at the results from high schools in terms of dropouts (not the made-up #s by APS) and by the way those scores are also rigged at many of the schools.

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Everthing in Atlanta Public Schools is based on test scores then its who Kath Augaustine likes or who is connected or have a tradition with some one in Atlanta Public Schools. All of Dr. Halls neices and Nephews are principals . She is running a family buisness. Have anyone notice how many jamaicans from New York are principals. They are all over the system. I know one middle School principal that i heard from an executive director friend of mine that he is her nephew. I approached that principal jokingly and he cursed at me for suggesting that he got his job because he is related to her and then stop communicating with the American Principals. His school is on the list with over 30% eraser marks. Believe me, him and her other relatives will be protected. Kathy Augustine has a thing for certain females and i believe she is afraid of men. Too many darm black women is running Atlanta Public schools. Hire some men Dr. Hall then maybe they will stand up to you. She allow people like her stupid Executive Directors to terrorized principals and teachers. What can they do but cheat. Everyone one is afraid of those women in APS, even the few men in power. Kathy likes week men and if you are not week she will not hire you for any position. She hired a stupid white woman to be director of professional development and never thought to hire a qualified principal for that position. Dr. Betsy Bockman is by far one of the best principals in the system and she wont apply for a job because she is not one of kathy friends and they hate her because Inman dont need to cheat. Robin Hall one of her friends and a executive director school is on the list with over 40% and have the nerve to be conducting investigation of her principals. Who is conducting investigation on her cheating A..

Dr. Hall leaves too much of the system to be run by Kathy. She needs to be more involved in the decision up front and not wait untill they send her applicants to be interviewed. They wont send qualified applicants to her if they want a friend in that position.

We need new people in all positions. I blame left footed kathy Augustine, she is so arrogant and she hates principals because most of them have PHD,s and she has been trying for twenty years and cant complete hers. I left and I am in Clayton now and believe me they threat us much better as humans than atlanta did.

Atlanta not so arrogant no more. good for yall.

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All of Dr. Halls neices and nephews who are principals got help from the district office

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Anyone notices that the Associate superintendent of high schools cant speak properly. Tyrone Smith should have that job.

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I think more than just cheating on test there is a cheating going on with regards to who gets what, when and how. I am at a school that has very few Promethean Boards while another school across town has one in almost every classroom. How does that happen when we are in the same District? There are some schools with Thin Clients, 15-20 in a single class when my school has 3-5 computers in each classroom. When our students have to rotate to use the computer versus a class where each kid can use a computer at the same time I am clearly disadvantaged. yet, the Govenor wants to talk about cheating,when money is unequally allocated for supplies and resources. Give me a break!

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Hubbard Middle in Monroe County …Cheats every year….the math teacher basically point out the answers….I bet if a proctor goes in and test every math student…..That school would not make it…how do I know….Ha ha ha….

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