Archive for the ‘CRCT investigation’ Category

Margaret Spellings

Daniel Malloy, the AJC’s reporter in Washington, D.C., sat down with former U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings for an interview at an event in Washington today.  Here are her answers to a series of questions on major education issues:

DM: Cheating scandal call testing into question?

Spellings: I think obviously the vast majority of educators and education leaders take assessment seriously and the integrity seriously and don’t cheat. When it does happen it ought to be addressed and attended to vigorously. Obviously, we saw that exact same thing play out in Atlanta and what encourages me when I think about the Atlanta case study, the business community, as you know, was very engaged, got a little sideswiped by the scandal, a little aggrieved by their engagement that was rewarded with this sort of behavior. I think to their credit they’ve stayed engaged and active and continue to be and are moving forward to the benefit of kids. Often we take our …

Continue reading Former U.S. ed secretary on legacy of No Child Left Behind »

The APS cheating scandal has led the system to pursue principal firings in schools where there was widespread cheating by classroom teachers.

But some principals counter that they did not order teachers to cheat, so why are they to blame when their employees do the wrong thing. Are they responsible for the actions of their teachers? Even if they should have known something was amiss, what if they didn’t?

In the AJC story this week on her APS tribunal hearing, Slater Elementary School principal Selena Dukes Walton contended,  “I am not responsible for something I did not know about. I’m not responsible for the teacher.”

But in an interview with the AJC last week, APS Superintendent Erroll Davis said, “When principals say to me that ‘The investigators’ report said I wasn’t involved, why am I being removed from the job?’ I say, ‘Absolutely, you did not cheat but you failed. I put the malleable lives of young children in your hands and you failed.”’

Davis said, “You …

Continue reading Are principals accountable for the cheating on their watch? Should they be fired? »

Erroll B. Davis Jr. says APS must focus on outcomes.

Erroll B. Davis left industry to run Georgia’s colleges. Now, he may have the toughest challenge of his long distinguished career, revitalizing a badly damaged APS.

Davis met with AJC reporters and editors this week to discuss how he will do that. Here are highlights of the nearly two-hour freewheeling discussion: (I will be adding to this as there is a lot of information to sort.)

I will begin by saying that at the close, I asked Davis why we should believe that his vision for Atlanta schools will succeed.

Much of what he and his deputy Karen Waldon told us echoed the comments of Beverly Hall in her many meetings with the AJC over the years.

Hall, too, talked about valuing critical thinking skills over test scores, of empowering principals, of improving teaching, of honoring great teachers and of embracing site-based management. She, too, talked about meeting with APS grads now attending Ivy League schools and listening to …

Continue reading A long chat with Erroll Davis about APS and the cheating mess: “Only so many ways to perfume a pig.” »

The AJC has published the second installment in its major series on test score disparities nationwide. Today’s stories look at the improbable score patterns in some of the nation’s most highly decorated schools, National Blue Ribbon Schools.

AJC reporters included a winning school that even merited a visit from Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Highland Elementary in Maryland.

“This school, just four or five years ago, wasn’t a Blue Ribbon school,” Duncan said that morning in September 2009, according to video of thew award event. “It had the same type of children, same type of families, same type of community — but dramatically different results.” Now, he said, “this school has more students at the advanced level than any other school like it in the state. It’s absolutely remarkable.”

And remarkably unlikely, according to the AJC analysis. It is essential to verify the achievement at these heralded school as they are held up as role models.

According to …

Continue reading AJC cheating series: National Blue Ribbon Schools that may be red-faced at these revelations »

Former APS school chief Beverly Hall remains in Atlanta. (AJC Photo)

The Sunday AJC has an update today on the status of former APS superintendent Beverly Hall.

While APS is moving ahead in its efforts to dismiss educators accused of cheating, there are no charges pending against Hall and the Fulton DA will only say that his probe is ongoing.

Although the state’s own investigation into CRCT cheating in Atlanta concluded that Hall “knew or should have known about cheating,” Hall denies any role. She says that while she expected educators to raise student achievement, she never pressured them to cheat or sanctioned cheating.

The decision to bring charges will likely hinge on the resolution of this issue: Whether Hall created a success-at-any-cost culture that led to widespread cheating or whether she actively condoned cheating by ignoring glaring disparities in performance and by shrugging off whistle-blower reports of test tampering.

According to the AJC:

The former …

Continue reading Former APS chief Beverly Hall. Still in Atlanta but keeping a low profile »

I have been getting a lot of notes lately from teachers in APS about assorted concerns.

Here are two such notes, one about some teachers having to reapply for their jobs and the other about the CRCT scheduling this year. I contacted APS and have included the official response to why some teachers must reapply.

Here is the first teacher note:

Teachers at some APS schools were told today that they have to reapply for their jobs. They have to attend a job fair this Saturday, resubmit applications and resumes and respond to a writing prompt. Only teachers from schools that are being closed or from schools that are are being reclassified as primary or secondary have to do this. Grove Park and Woodson are included in this restructuring.

Teachers at these schools already face daunting challenges. They are the professionals who work with the neediest children. Please investigate why only teachers from schools affected by restructuring have to go through this ordeal. Also, …

Continue reading APS news: Some teachers told they must reapply for their jobs. And does the CRCT scheduling make sense for kids? »

The Georgia Professional Standards Commission, which certified and polices educators, has voted to take action against 67 Atlanta educators implicated in the cheating scandal first uncovered by the AJC in 2008, a scandal that topped the regime of former school chief Beverly Hall and led to a statewide examination of testing integrity by the governor.

According to the AJC:

The commission handed down two-year suspensions for 47 teachers. One teacher was given a one-year suspension, and 19 educators in leadership positions, such as principals and testing coordinators, were recommended for revocation.

The action signals significant progress in the cheating case. Before today, the commission had taken action against 16 Atlanta educators accused of cheating. The educators could still face termination from Atlanta Public Schools and criminal charges.

Details were not released about the educators, including their names or where they worked. The commission does not …

Continue reading PSC moves to suspend or revoke 67 alleged APS cheaters »

More than 500 people attended the APS board meeting Tuesday night. (AJC photo/Hyosub Shin)

The decision to close fewer Atlanta schools than had been recommended reflects the pressure on school board members by the community.  Vocal community opposition fueled the decision to keep D.H. Stanton, Towns and F.L. Stanton elementary schools open.

Here is the challenge: How do you shore up academics in those three schools, none of which is a high performer based on annual test scores. The three clearly serve as community focal points, which has merit, but is not something measured or valued under the current accountability modes. Maybe, it should be.

But the question of academic performance has to be considered.

Despite a decade of reform efforts, APS has one of the lowest high school grad rates in the metro area, and I wonder if the system is doing enough that is radically different to change that.

Often lost in the discussion about the APS cheating scandal is that the system had …

Continue reading Power to the people: Three APS schools stay open but how do we make them better? »

The folks at FairTest have been raising the alarm about excessive testing and its impact on education long before most people.

Here is a response to the AJC investigation into nationwide disparities in test results from Robert Schaeffer, public education director of FairTest: the National Center for Fair & Open Testing

By Robert Schaeffer

Across the U.S., the politically mandated misuse of standardized tests is damaging public schools and the children they serve. The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s investigation of suspicious test scores around the nation is just the latest example. Experts may debate the methodology, but there is no question that cheating on standardized exams is widespread. In just the past three academic years, FairTest has documented confirmed cases of test score manipulation in 33 states plus the District of Columbia.

These scandals are the predictable result of over-reliance on test scores. As the renowned social scientist Donald Campbell concluded more …

Continue reading High-stakes testing cheats children out of a quality education »

In the Washington Post Answer Sheet blog, Gary Miron, professor of education at Western Michigan University, questions whether the AJC investigation into test score disparities nationwide considered student mobility.

Reporter Heather Vogell, a member of the AJC investigative team into test scores, responds here to that concern:

By Heather Vogell

Some school district officials and education consultants have raised the issue of whether high student mobility would lead a district to be highlighted in our analysis even if they had no cheating problem.

A high rate of mobility is a characteristic of virtually all inner city high-poverty districts. If it were true that our methodology just flagged mobility instead of potential cheating, then you would expect all urban districts with high mobility to be flagged.

This was not the case. For example, Cleveland schools, with a better than 30 percent mobility rate, had an average 4 percent of classes flagged by our analysis in …

Continue reading AJC addresses question over whether its national test score investigation considered student mobility. It did. »