CRCT tampering: What exactly did those 80 educators do and are they teachers, administrators or both?
I will be very eager to read exactly what the 80 educators from 14 school districts expected to face disciplinary action related to possible CRCT cheating did.
(By the way, we will be posting 2010 CRCT scores Thursday for individual schools. I will add the link when AJC data guru Matt Dempsey puts it up at 4 p.m.)
And I would like to know which positions the offending educators held. Were they teachers or administrators?I know many of you believe teachers could not be responsible for widespread tampering, but certainly they could have a role in classroom cheating.
This drama seems to have dragged on for a long time, especially in Atlanta where Superintendent Beverly Hall was given until tomorrow to offer assurances that her system is near the end of its investigation into possible cheating at 58 schools.
Statewide, test results have been scrutinized in 35 districts. In 14 of those districts, Mathers said Wednesday she estimates about 80 individuals will be referred to the state Professional Standards Commission, the agency that licenses teachers.
Those referrals are expected to be for a range of violations, including failing to provide training about the test to teachers who were coaching students on the answers, Mathers said.
In some instances, some administrators were telling people not to visit the school during the weekend, presumably because that was when some test results were going to be changed, Mathers said.
About 18 of the 35 school districts have been asked to provide additional information to the state, she said.
The 14 districts, with suspected violations, will not be identified until “we’ve gotten all the information and we’re at a final point in our investigation,” Mathers said.
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64 comments Add your comment
catlady
July 7th, 2010
7:51 pm
I am betting that the “findings” will be that the administrators implicated will be accused of not providing proper training, or proper security. I am betting that the “cheating” (ie changing answers) will be laid at the feet of the ordinary classroom teacher, no matter how extremely improbable that could be. Hope I am wrong–that it isn’t a smoke and mirrors exercise.
And what about the APS report? How do we know it’s 80 if APS has not turned in their report?
Educator for Life
July 7th, 2010
7:56 pm
I don’t care what positions they hold. I am more concerned about how it was able to happen, especially when each school has a testing coordinator assigned during testing. Sounds to me like it was a concerted effort by a group of individuals. It is, however, possible that some teachers abused the system by keeping student exams longer than allowed. For example, the one teacher who averaged 34 wrong-to-right answers for her 5th grade class, she had to do this alone. Otherwise, if I were another 5th grader at that school, I would have been mad at the testing coordinator for not changing mine too! It is just sad that this is still dragging. We put regular criminals on blast, so put these teachers’ names out there too.
john konop
July 7th, 2010
7:59 pm
I smell cover-up.
The DOE from the highest level of administrators were pushing make believe numbers from the graduation rate, cut scores…….. It would be hard believe it was not the same cast of characters behind this scandal.
My bet they will throw the lowest level people they can in front of the bus while the real people behind the policy hide or become high paid lobbyist like Kathy Cox.
The real victims students, parents and tax payers.
Felicity
July 7th, 2010
8:05 pm
A few yrs ago, my child was absent when the test was administered to her 1st grade class. So he tested alone w/an administrator. When I talked to the administrator, she said oh that was your child, he didn’t miss many. I was rather stunned, because this seemed irregular; I wondered…why she was checking his answers and had an answer sheet been created for this purpose. Cobb county school…not surprised the principal left this yr.
Springdale Park Elementary Parent
July 7th, 2010
8:36 pm
Bev Hall will say she couldn’t have known/isn’t responsible for all the cheating that will be shown to have occurred under her watch. But to me, that’s not worth arguing about. The thing to focus on is this:
When the AJC (and whistleblower parents) first identified CRCT teaching in APS, Bev denied it. Said it couldn’t be true. She had to be publicly shamed by our Bubba Gov because she wouldn’t see what was right in front of her. And that was last year’s CRCT scandal–the LITTLE one.
When this year’s CRCT scandal (the biggest cheating scandal in the history of standardized testing–way to go, APS!) became apparent, Bev again retreated into denial, and had her unscrupulous paid mouthpiece Keith Bromery draft a nonsensical and race-baiting “explanation” for the “anomalies.”
This is not the response of a leader. Bev Hall is not qualified to lead this district if she lacks the integrity and intellectual honesty to confront this crime against schoolchildren. Either she’s in complete denial or a coward. Either way, she has already decided the issue for us: she is clearly unfit to lead.
Bev, nobody thinks you marked up any test booklets yourself. But that’s not the point. You failed to anticipate and stop it; you denied its obvious existence, and now you’re running for cover.
FAIL.
Educator for Life
July 7th, 2010
8:38 pm
@ john konop, did someone at the DOE steal your high school girlfriend? Or, was Kathy Cox her? Or, are you one of the teachers that changed answers? You keep blaming the DOE for things that happened at the school and system level. This story has nothing to do with your typical rant about the cut scores, etc. You need to get a life. I know of a teacher who cheated and admitted it!!! It happened and with the appropriate measures in place, it may not happen in the future.
Everyone in life is a victim at some point. I love teaching and when I don’t get the support from administrations and parents, I keep it moving. It’s time that we stop blaming others and start being more responsible ourselves.
Had Enough
July 7th, 2010
8:41 pm
Felicity, it’s very likely in a one on one situation that the tester watched as your child took the test and was able to see if the answer was correct or incorrect. I doubt very seriously if she needed an “answer key” since the test was on a first grade level. Also, all of the questions and answers of the reading portion are read aloud to first and second grade students. Not sure how much of the math and language is read aloud. First and second grade kids only test for 3 days in reading, math, and language skills.
john konop
July 7th, 2010
8:43 pm
Educator for Life,
It all starts at the top with the culture that is promoted. I do not blame the line workers at the DOE as well as the teachers. But when cheating to win is promoted from the people in charge what do you expect.
Plain as day
July 7th, 2010
8:45 pm
Has nobody noticed the blame teachers first AJC said it was 80 teachers in their headline, not 80 educators?
Doris M
July 7th, 2010
8:46 pm
When Dr. Hall worked in New Jersey there was problems with her CFO. She denied that she knew anything about the problems, but when she did know, she fired the individual. Now the same kind of malarky is happening in Atlanta. She says she did not know cheating was going on, but she should have known. She should have been on top of things. She should have been earning that $350,000+ salary and other monetary perks.
Time to retire Beverly.
Plain as day
July 7th, 2010
9:12 pm
The timing is interesting. Which member of the editorial board decides who gets to write a guest editorial and when it gets published? Because it so happens today’s paper has an editorial offering effusive praise for Beverly Hall.
Now this evenings online edition has a story about 80 teachers cheating. Doesn’t say teachers and administrators, and doesn’t use the catch all phrase educators.
The headline singles out teachers, and teachers only.
Has no one noticed this, or questioned this bias?
sick of it
July 7th, 2010
9:33 pm
This has dragged on way too long. Yes, I agree, teachers will be singled out. Unless someone actually witnessed someone “cheating,” really how can it be proved? I truly think their will be plenty of lawsuits filed for defamation of character in that case. I think the only solution is to have teachers test in classes that are not their own homeroom, proctors in EVERY room, who if necessary can attest to the integrity of the testing procedures, and DOE personnel personally delivering the tests and picking them up afterwards, as well as monitoring (peeking in) the hallways. And in the back of my head, I just wonder why the AJC initiated this whole thing to begin with.
sick of it
July 7th, 2010
9:34 pm
sorry for the typo, “their” should be “there”
Alexander Butterfield
July 7th, 2010
9:55 pm
I have a complete taping system full of conversations of the culprits discussing the cover-up. Do you think that the AJC wants a copy? Not.
@Alexander Butterfield
July 7th, 2010
9:57 pm
Alexander if you really have one, there’s always YouTube
Plain as day
July 7th, 2010
10:11 pm
Two hours into the story and the AJC website still leads with the words “80 teachers face penalty for cheating.” Not a word about word about administrators, and not a word about educators.
Teachers only.
It’s bad enough the AJC editorial board refuses to fully engage in this story, but when the AJC is willing to deliberately headline their website with factually incorrect information in order to attack teachers, that’s a complete affront to any standards of journalistic integrity they claim to have.
Carrie
July 7th, 2010
10:24 pm
And, the state wants pay increases for teachers to be based on progress their students make? How would you measure progress,,,yes, test results! Now there’s an incentive to make scores look good.
Maureen Downey
July 7th, 2010
10:25 pm
@Plain, THis is what the story says :
80 educators could face discipline in CRCT investigation
By Nancy Badertscher and Gracie Bonds Staples
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
About 80 educators statewide could face disciplinary action in connection with possible cheating on standardized tests last year, the state Board of Education was told Wednesday. In addition, the state publicly pressured the Atlanta school system to wrap up its investigation and report its results
Plain as day
July 7th, 2010
10:29 pm
For the record, this blog and its author did use the word educator, and did discuss the aspect of what extent teachers were involved and to what extent administrators were involved.
But, for the record, is there anybody at the AJC willing to come to this blog and explain why the AJC allowed the factually incorrect headline “80 teachers face penalty for cheating” to lead their website when, with as many stories as the AJC has done on this, a headline writer couldn’t possibly be unaware that administrators have been every bit, if not more, suspected of cheating?
Plain as day
July 7th, 2010
10:34 pm
Thank you for responding. However, I am not talking about the writers of the story, and as I noted, I am also not referring to you.
I am referring specifically to the headline that led the website for approximately two hours this evening. It has been replaced with a story about the weather, but if you go to the Metro Atlanta / State News link you will still see under Region and State, 3 full hours into the story, the headline “80 teachers face discipline for cheating”.
I’m not making this up, go see it for yourself.
Maureen Downey
July 7th, 2010
10:39 pm
@Plain, I just picked up that headline and first graph from the AJC Web site. Can you post the link to what you are seeing?
Parent
July 7th, 2010
10:40 pm
Why does school start so early? Children have only had one month of summer, and now it is time to go back to school. Clayton shaved 5 days off the calendar, so why does school start so soon. It should be against the state law for schools across the state to begin before August 25th. Children aren’t interested in school and neither are the teachers. It is entirely too hot to be in school. Are the children any smarter?
Plain as day
July 7th, 2010
10:41 pm
Is there anybody out there that can confirm this either by having read the website headlines between 7:45 and 9:45 or can click on the News link next to the Home link and see it under Region and state as of 10:40pm?
Or do I have a super special beta version of this website that no one else has?
Plain as day
July 7th, 2010
10:44 pm
http://www.ajc.com/news/
To not cast aspersions (right used of word?) where none are merited, both you and the authors appropriately used the words educators. It’s the headline writer I take issue with.
Thanks
sick of it
July 7th, 2010
10:47 pm
Yes, I am seeing 80 TEACHERS as well. The issue is why is that not corrected. It is another slap in the face to teachers who as it is get little respect from the bashers.
Joey
July 7th, 2010
10:48 pm
Mathers is just another of Sonny’s idiot advisors. Get some people who really know something about education. I cannot wait for Joe Martin to be calling the education shots.
Plain as day
July 7th, 2010
10:50 pm
(right use of word?) that is. It’ll now be doubly embarrassing if the word was incorrectly used.
Maureen, if you clicked on the main headline @10:30ish you missed it. But the same size font and same location that now says “Brace Yourself For Temp nearing 100″ is where it was located.
Unless it’s “Take your son/daughter who has an axe to grind about teachers to work night” for the headline writers, there’s really no excuse for it, as many stories as the AJC has done on this.
Plain as day
July 7th, 2010
10:56 pm
Thank you sick of it. Now can you call the “crisis clinic” and try to convince them I really don’t need to be seen on an in-patient basis at this time LOL?
Plain as day
July 7th, 2010
11:14 pm
11:13pm…still there.
Nikole
July 7th, 2010
11:33 pm
Who cares what the headline says. The main person that should be taking the blame for this is the Supt. and unless parents demand so, nothing will happen to her.
Ric
July 7th, 2010
11:37 pm
Still there…as of this posting:
Region and state »
* Gwinnett hospital: No more hiring smokers
* Court reporters double-dipping
* 80 teachers face discipline for cheating
Ric
July 7th, 2010
11:39 pm
As of this posting:
Region and state »
* Gwinnett hospital: No more hiring smokers
* Court reporters double-dipping
* 80 teachers face discipline for cheating
Plain as day
July 7th, 2010
11:48 pm
Just to be clear Nikole, are you saying when the lead headline of the largest paper in the state is factually incorrect, and blames teachers and teachers only for creating the largest cheating scandal in Georgia’s educational history, that is perfectly acceptable?
Did you ever think Nikole, if parents read that teachers did this, that it will be easier to deflect blame from higher ups and place it solely on teachers?
Ric Kelley
July 8th, 2010
12:15 am
As of this posting
Region and state »
* Gwinnett hospital: No more hiring smokers
* Court reporters double-dipping
* 80 teachers face discipline for cheating
Larry Major
July 8th, 2010
4:36 am
Let’s keep this in perspective.
It appears there will be around 180 violations in 15 school districts. This is widespread in the sense that it shouldn’t happen at all, but it hardly defines a state-wide culture.
Consider how you would view this if they all occurred in Gwinnett. Sloan announces that 180 violations occurred in 15 schools. That means over 10,000 educators in 115 schools did nothing wrong, and you’d be hard pressed to convince me this was an Alvin-level culture problem.
Perhaps a better way to see this is, if the violations were spread equally throughout the state, there would be a single violation in each school system. I doubt that anyone would see this as a state-level problem but, more to the point, we know that isn’t the case. Over half the violations were in a single school system. Even though we don’t know the details, available information shows the problems are local and at most district, not state, level.
sick of it
July 8th, 2010
6:12 am
@ Plain as day, it’s 6:11 AM and that headline still reads 80 TEACHERS….
sick of it
July 8th, 2010
6:14 am
But then again, the AJC keeps the SAME stories on the county pages for weeks, even months. What gives with that?
Color me confused
July 8th, 2010
7:39 am
Does this include the City of Atlanta? Or are they still waiting on them to self report?
EnoughAlready
July 8th, 2010
9:04 am
Both (teachers and administrators) are guilty. It’s also a problem in many school systems, they are just better at covering their butts.
DMACK
July 8th, 2010
10:53 am
If you lie, you will cheat, If you cheat you will steal, if you steal then you will kill….your integrity, credibility and contribution to a life of service……..IS IT WORTH IT?
Patt Robertson
July 8th, 2010
10:56 am
With the budget problems all school districts are having the state DOE should dump the whole CRCT program as it appears to be a waste of money. Bev Hall should be dumped also, she is not a leader.
LynnB
July 8th, 2010
11:00 am
In the midst of the scandal regarding the CRCT scores, I read the article about the Douglass High School team winning the Stock Market Game. What a wonderful balance to the bad news. Way to go.
All the facts
July 8th, 2010
11:30 am
If you want to keep up the point about scandalous headlines, how about this one?
“Why would you need an extra month beyond the month extension?” Get a grip Dr. Hall!
I am an APS employee, and a big supporter of yours. But even I am getting fed up with how you are making those of us who didn’t cheat look.
MAN UP! The rest of the school systems in the state reported on time. If our APS students can process data and accelerate at the same pace with their horrid extenuating circumstances, so can you!
Larry Minor
July 8th, 2010
11:35 am
“Consider how you would view this if they all occurred in Gwinnett. Sloan announces that 180 violations occurred in 15 schools. That means over 10,000 educators in 115 schools did nothing wrong, and you’d be hard pressed to convince me this was an Alvin-level culture problem.”
So Larry Major, if there were 180 murders in a city of 10,000 people, you wouldn’t look at anything on a city wide level, you’d just pretty much dismiss it as over 10,000 people didn’t kill anybody, no sign of a larger problem here?
Lewis
July 8th, 2010
11:38 am
Teachers and administrators know their evaluations depend on the results of this test. Pressure to prepare students for it is tremendous. Jobs are on the line. That some people will try to doctor the results to make themselves look better is a given in this atmosphere and should be no surprise at all. The ones who are shown to have promoted and carried out cheating should be fired and considered for criminal charges. The administrators who allowed this to go on or who chose not to see it when it was obvious should not have their jobs. And again it should be noted that most teachers and administrators did not engage in these acts despite the pressure to produce better student scores. The public has the right to know who did these things and what is done about it. Our taxes pay for the schools and the salaries of these folks. Beverly Hall was at the top and should be held accountable for what occurred on her watch.
Color me confused
July 8th, 2010
11:47 am
So now the City of Atlanta has until August 2 to release their report. It is a joke. This means if principals need to be dismissed it will be the first month of school before that can happen.
Why is the City of Atlanta board of ed so quiet?
Bobby T
July 8th, 2010
11:49 am
Teacher = educator and vice versa. Grow a thicker skin will ya?
After all, when districts tout their low student to teacher ratios they all include non-classroom instructing employees that hold teaching certificates.
Easy answer
July 8th, 2010
11:50 am
“Why is the City of Atlanta board of ed so quiet?”
Because the AJC’s editorial board allows them to be so quiet, with no public consequences. And the readers of the AJC allow the editorial board to act that way, by refusing to use forums like this to hold them accountable for it.
Plain as day
July 8th, 2010
11:53 am
Again Bobby T, you are saying that it is perfectly acceptable for the largest newspaper in the state to run a headline with factually incorrect information on the largest cheating scandal in Georgia’s educational history?
“After all, when districts tout their low student to teacher ratios they all include non-classroom instructing employees that hold teaching certificates.”
And yes, that is an equally disingenuous practice.
sad APS Dad
July 8th, 2010
12:16 pm
Everyone knows why APS’ investigation has lagged behind the others. The “blue-ribbon” commission is trying hard, desperately trying to find someone in the administration to blame for this other than Beverly Hall. They are trying to protect and justify retaining her but they can’t get all of the ducks (lies) to line up to justify blaming someone else.
When the former CEO of our company was told of accounting shenanigans, the board fired him. Not because he knew about the bad practices, because he didn’t know and at $5 million plus a year he should have known. Same rules apply to Dr. Hall. Please retire now to salvage some dignity.