Cheating scandal a serious crisis for Atlanta schools
By most accounts, Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly Hall runs a very tight ship. She demands results and she produces results.
However, results of a different type now threaten to undermine much of what Hall has accomplished. Strong evidence of widespread, perhaps systematic cheating on state-mandated tests within Atlanta public schools now calls into question not just the effectiveness of the Atlanta system but its basic integrity.
How Hall responds to that evidence will determine both her legacy and her continued ability to lead the district.
Sparked by an earlier AJC investigation that found evidence of cheating on state tests, Gov. Sonny Perdue ordered a probe of all state-mandated tests taken last year by Georgia students in grades 1-8. Every single test was inspected for evidence that wrong answers had been erased and changed to correct answers.
Of course, students often change answers in the course of taking a test. The state’s analysis found that on average, a student might change one or two answers on each test from wrong to right.
However, according to an erasure analysis conducted by CTB-McGraw Hill, the vendor that provides Georgia’s statewide tests, results at several hundred Georgia schools showed evidence of erasures well beyond what you would ordinarily expect. The company estimated the odds of such excessive erasures occurring naturally at one in a thousand.
The analysis also found that at 74 schools statewide, including 43 in Atlanta alone, more than a quarter of the classrooms tested showed evidence of erasures well beyond the ordinary.
At Parks Middle School in Atlanta, for example, almost 90 percent of classrooms tested showed evidence of an abnormal number of answers being changed from wrong to right.
State officials have stressed that the statistical evidence does not constitute proof of cheating in any particular classroom, a point that Hall repeated in a telephone interview Thursday. Smaller class sizes in Atlanta public schools also increase the odds that test results of a particular classroom might have been skewed.
Those are important caveats. Unfortunately, at best they can only mitigate the overall findings. They cannot explain the sheer scale of anomalies found at Atlanta public schools. They cannot explain, to cite just one example, how an average of 27 of 70 answers in one fourth-grade math class were changed from wrong to right.
The evidence that something has gone seriously wrong seems inescapable.
And as a strong supporter of public education, and as a father of two children who thrived in the Atlanta public schools, I do not come to that conclusion lightly.
In the interview Thursday, Hall reiterated her belief that poor, urban students are not fated to fail.
The considerable progress shown in Atlanta public schools over a decade of her leadership is often cited as proof of that fact, and she expressed sincere concern that the accomplishments of Atlanta students might now be tainted.
On the other hand, “cheating is never acceptable,” Hall said, pledging “an independent review of every classroom, every teacher and every principal” where problems might exist
.
Nationwide, the growing emphasis on standardized testing as a means of holding teachers and principals accountable is controversial. Hall has embraced that approach with a passion, using an intensely data-driven approach to demand measurable improvement from principals and teachers alike.
But as a consequence of that high-pressure environment, it now seems almost certain that some employees turned to cheating to produce results they could not achieve by legitimate means.
Until now, the Atlanta Board of Education has given Hall the freedom and support that any good superintendent needs to restructure a stubborn bureaucracy. But to protect both Hall and the district, the board now needs to take a strong leadership role in ensuring an independent, aggressive investigation of these allegations.
This is not merely a case of cheating the system, of misleading bureaucrats. The biggest victims are the students themselves. Their parents were reassured that their children were performing adequately and did not need additional help.
In too many cases, it appears, that simply wasn’t true.
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380 comments Add your comment
Outhouse GoKart
February 12th, 2010
7:41 am
“By most accounts, Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly Hall runs a very tight ship. She demands results and she produces results.”
Would seem the case is different. Here we have a case of adults, adults mind you, that are quite unable to think thru a cheating scam and follow thru on the other end, without getting caught.
This being the case their teaching ability, not to mention their cheating abililty must be called into question.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
February 12th, 2010
7:47 am
Now just imagine for a moment the tone of this blog column if it had been a Repug scandal, just sayin….
Peadawg
February 12th, 2010
7:49 am
The education system in Atlanta is sooo bad, that teachers are now cheating? Geeze. What a wonderful city Atlanta is!!!!!
Bud Wiser
February 12th, 2010
7:50 am
I am shocked.
Bud Wiser
February 12th, 2010
7:51 am
Not.
USinUK
February 12th, 2010
7:54 am
geez, you tie school funding to standardized test results and you’re surprised that there’s corruption???
Gale
February 12th, 2010
7:55 am
Whiner, why would you immediately throw this entry to the political court? We all know Georgia schools are the bottom of the coutries schools. It surprises me that parents who can move continue to live here.
Batman and The Boy Wonder
February 12th, 2010
7:55 am
Holy Pinkslip Batman, a cheating scandal in Gotham city.
Thats right Robin, seems our little crime fighters are being cheated out of a quality education by some unorthodox scoundrels.
Right Batman
So Robin how are your foreign language studies proceeding?
Im holding a 3.7 GPA Batman
Thats good to here Robin. NOW contact Commissioner Gordon and tell him we are the way.
Cee Cee Batman.
TO THE BATMOBILE!!
Gale
February 12th, 2010
7:56 am
COUNTRY’s Sorry. I’m going for coffee.
Peadawg
February 12th, 2010
7:56 am
geez, you tie school funding to standardized test results and you’re surprised that there’s corruption???
BINGO!
USinUK
February 12th, 2010
7:57 am
Peadawg – 7:49 – “The analysis also found that at 74 schools statewide”
statewide. not just Atlanta.
Outhouse GoKart
February 12th, 2010
7:59 am
“The analysis also found that at 74 schools statewide, including 43 in Atlanta alone”
Thats 58% for Atlanta. Once again the city of Atlanta excells where most fail. YYYIIIIPPPEEEEEEE!!!
GeeDubya
February 12th, 2010
8:02 am
Is our children learning?
jt
February 12th, 2010
8:03 am
I’m sure the federal government with No Child Left With A Dime will straighten this all out.
With a few billion dollars.
Peadawg
February 12th, 2010
8:04 am
“Is our children learning?”
Judging by the grammar in that sentence, I don’t think they are.
Jay
February 12th, 2010
8:04 am
So Outhouse and others: Explain to the rest of us the clear glee that such stories inspire. Why do they make you so happy?
Inquiring minds want to know…. Why such joy when stories break about MARTA, to cite another example, while stories about much more serious incompetence at the state DOT just inspire a yawn? There’s a definite pattern.
I Report :-) You Whine :-( mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
February 12th, 2010
8:06 am
Gale- Would you like to go out on the limb that the Atlanta public school system is ate up with “bible thumping” Repugs?
Anyone firmly grounded in reality knows that if you subtract the ITP Atlanta test scores from the rest of Georgia, we rank above the national average, just sayin….
Funny, isn’t it, the fake, alternate universe liberals have to cheat just to obtain their failing grades?
And they don’t think they have a problem?
USinUK
February 12th, 2010
8:07 am
“Anyone firmly grounded in reality knows that if you subtract the ITP Atlanta test scores from the rest of Georgia, we rank above the national average, just sayin….”
got a link to back that up?
TaxPayer
February 12th, 2010
8:08 am
Well, the evidence clearly indicates that something, statistically significant, has changed. That measured and confirmed “something”, as you say, is the number of erasures and that change in erasures certainly warrants investigation. We will need to wait and see what the investigation uncovers. Do it for the children.
This does remind me of that school that made the public’s eye via a movie many years back. Edward Olmos was the math teacher and his students excelled on standardized tests and were subsequently subjected to unwarranted scrutiny. Well, it’s a thought.
By the way, is a score greater than 2000 but less than 2100 considered a good score on the SAT and is it statistically different from the scores around the state. Just curious.
professional skeptic
February 12th, 2010
8:09 am
I believe in this case we can apply a lesson learned in Corporate America. Cheaters and fraudsters, by nature, will cheat if they have the motive, if they can rationalize it, and if they believe they have the opportunity to get away with it. In the corporate environment, the best defense against cheating and fraud is a strong internal control system.
I would say that it’s time to implement a similar set of controls over testing in Georgia’s schools. One possible fix would be to put in place third-party proctors to observe the testing and collect the tests immediately afterward. Or, make state tests computer based so that answers are recorded in real time and cannot be changed after the time is up.
@@
February 12th, 2010
8:10 am
Just one more instance of sacrificing our children for personal gain. Government workers’ job security vs our childrens’ future job security.
Disgusting!
Gale
February 12th, 2010
8:11 am
I hope you are wrong, Jay. I hope it is not glee, but gallows humor. I suppose it is no wonder parents want their kids in private schools in GA. The problem is, if we flood the private schools with children of disengaged parents, the problem will just follow the students.
I don’t have a kid in school, but we all have an interest in this problem. Money and corruption are part of the problem. Look at the school boards of the failing schools. Those are the people who are supposed to guide policies. What are they focussing on?
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
February 12th, 2010
8:12 am
Well, you can’t even zap the teachers anymore. We send them bright kids straight from the NASCAR races and they turn around and cheat. Instead of taking their lumps the way we wanted. Not a lunkhead in the bunch we send them. It ain’t even American.
We set this thing up so the teachers would get punished. Somebody’s got to take the fall and it might as well be them. And we put in tests to make sure they got punished when a kid fails. And now these teachers get together and start erasing wrong answers and changing them to right just to make theirselfs look good. What kind of low-down move is that?
Well, looks like we got to put in the Death Penalty for teachers that change answers for kids. That’s the Conservative way of handling things. And we need Life Without Parole for the teachers we can’t prove anything against but we think might could be involved.
It’s time to nip this thing in the bud.
Have a good day everybody.
JDW
February 12th, 2010
8:12 am
Not terribly suprising that given the opportunity, adults will try to cheat the system to make the number. My guess is that this is not limited to GA , but we may have found it first. And as usual some of you want to lay blame at the door of a politcal party. I don’t know where all the 110 schools identifed are located but I am sure that both parties will be equally represented and as usual responsible.
I Report :-) You Whine :-( mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
February 12th, 2010
8:13 am
Bookman- This is a total failure of socialism, a direct result of you liberals dumbing down your captive audience so that you can brainwash them with your hideous left wing political propaganda.
Does that help answer your question?
Granny Godzilla
February 12th, 2010
8:13 am
Holy Crap! Google this topic and the reports of cheating on standardized tests go on and on all over the country.
Nuns who could have qualified for WWE Wrestling gave me a heavy duty disdain for cheaters.
USinUK
February 12th, 2010
8:13 am
TaxPayer – “Edward Olmos was the math teacher” – Stand and Deliver … I loved that movie …
… Dangerous Minds was good … (although, pretty much the same story) …
… Lean on Me, Morgan Freeman rocked the house …
… then, there was Freedom Writers … the weakest of the bunch …
Hollywood does love the story of the little teacher that could …
Jay
February 12th, 2010
8:14 am
Reporter, your statement isn’t even close to true.
But it nonetheless tells us a lot.
Outhouse GoKart
February 12th, 2010
8:14 am
Its sad but funny. The pompous blustering haberdashers strutting around Atlanta city hall in their finery never seem to want to admit there is a problem because they are never wrong. The public knows better.
Its sad in that these little kids are being socially promoted strait into prison.
Its funny in that the adults, involved in this particular case, are unable to face what failures they truly are AND cant even think thru this silly move to its logical conclusion.
However it really matters not because in typical city of Atlanta style the powers that be will bluster some more about untrue allegations, retraining of the teachers, computer errors, witchhunts etc. and again, nothing will get done.
TaxPayer
February 12th, 2010
8:15 am
Why such joy when stories break about MARTA, to cite another example, while stories about much more serious incompetence at the state DOT just inspire a yawn? There’s a definite pattern.
Shhh!. Some of ‘em gits all reverse uppitied when you start talking with such undertones, real or otherwise.
USinUK
February 12th, 2010
8:15 am
@@ – “Just one more instance of sacrificing our children for personal gain. Government workers’ job security vs our childrens’ future job security”
fwiw, my £££ is on trying to maintain school funding, not job security … this sounds far more endemic than any 1 individual teacher or administrator trying to save his/her job …
Gale
February 12th, 2010
8:16 am
Interesting suggestions, professional skeptic. Both suggestions take funds, which are currently in short supply. But independent proctors might work if the kids were taking the test in a largee enough room to decrease the number of proctors needed. Then, as for an election, hand over all the completed tests to a third party to score. Might work.
JDW
February 12th, 2010
8:17 am
I Report
You Whine 
mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
“This is a total failure of socialism, a direct result of you liberals dumbing down your captive audience so that you can brainwash them with your hideous left wing political propaganda”
Are you really this ignorant and uninformed.
washedup
February 12th, 2010
8:17 am
How can incompetence at the DOT be more serious than short-changing our children’s education at government schools? As with anything else that is controlled by government, “funding” is the goal. Don’t worry about quality, just send us more money, for more programs that will work about as well as the ones we tried last year. What a ridiculous statement about a ridiculous system. Thanks a million, John Dewey!
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
February 12th, 2010
8:17 am
Maybe you libs should put a sticker in your text books stating that Atlanta’s passing SAT scores are just a theory subject to further review?
USinUK
February 12th, 2010
8:17 am
OGK – “haberdashers”
you do realize this word refers to people who make and sell clothing, not the people who wear nice suits, don’t you …
Jay
February 12th, 2010
8:17 am
“Socialism?” reporter?
Oh I see. By your reckoning, there’s “socialism” ITP and no socialism OTP, which explains the testing score difference in the two groups.
A difference that doesn’t exist in the first place, of course.
“Socialism” is just a word, a collection of letters that you apply to things you would like to hate but just don’t understand why. “Socialism” gives you that excuse, because you clearly have no idea what the word itself actually means.
USinUK
February 12th, 2010
8:18 am
JDW – “Are you really this ignorant and uninformed”
yes.
this has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
February 12th, 2010
8:19 am
JDW- Would you like to posit any other explanations as to why Atlanta’s children are so stupid?
USinUK
February 12th, 2010
8:19 am
whiner – “Maybe you libs should put a sticker in your text books stating that Atlanta’s passing SAT scores are just a theory subject to further review?”
still waiting for that link from you that shows that Atlanta SAT scores are dragging the rest of the state down …
… and waiting …
… and waiting …
TaxPayer
February 12th, 2010
8:19 am
Reporter, your statement isn’t even close to true.
Well, there’s yet another chapter for the Book of Revelations.
Jay
February 12th, 2010
8:19 am
Nobody said anything about DOT incompetence being worse than the cheating scandal, washed up.
Put in another quarter and try again.
Bob
February 12th, 2010
8:20 am
Can’t we find a reason to blame this on Palin ?
Finn McCool
February 12th, 2010
8:20 am
Something similar happened in NJ a year or so ago.
Maybe we fix the underlying problems with No child Left Behind?
Joey
February 12th, 2010
8:22 am
From Jay’s 8:04: “There’s a definite pattern.”
Jay fails to recognize and acknowledge his “pattern”, and the “pattern” of many who agree with him. While at the same time condemning the “pattern” he percieves of people who disagree with him.
Who among us would have expected that?
JDW
February 12th, 2010
8:22 am
USinUK, thanks for the clarification! Where in UK, I lived in Chiswick for several years?
USinUK
February 12th, 2010
8:22 am
“Can’t we find a reason to blame this on Palin ?”
that’s right … we liberals are the ones who keep bringing up her name …
Outhouse GoKart
February 12th, 2010
8:23 am
Uh ya…meaning they, the haberdashers, probably arent qualified for their jobs.
USinUK
February 12th, 2010
8:24 am
JDW – how funny – I’ve been helping a friend of a friend who is moving here in a few weeks do some research about Chiswick / Hammersmith / Ealing!
I work in London, live down near Reigate. are you a Brit now living in the US or were you an American living in London?
Finn McCool
February 12th, 2010
8:24 am
Oh, i see. Now No Child Left Behind is a Democrat initiative??
What are you wing nuts smoking? I want some!