Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Guv'ment Deal: APS cheating investigation outlines 'dark chapter' in system's history
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 1:12 PM
The governor has forwarded the full report to three district attorneys, APS' acting superintendent, and other officials to determine whether criminal charges should be filed. He says there will indeed be consequences for those guilty of cheating.
Deal declined to address the report's specifics during a Gold Dome press conference, but did reveal general findings. Investigators tasked by former Gov. Sonny Perdue to probe allegations that APS teachers and principals changed students' test answers discovered that 178 teachers and principals were responsible or directly involved in cheating. Of those, 80 confessed. (See full statistics and general findings below.)
“When test results are falsified and students who have not mastered the necessary material are promoted, our students are harmed, parents lose sight of their child’s true progress, and taxpayers are cheated," Deal said. "The report’s findings are troubling, but I am encouraged that this investigation will bring closure to the problems that existed in APS and restore the focus on students and the classroom. As we begin to turn the page on this dark chapter in Atlanta Public Schools, I am confident brighter days lie ahead.”
Mike Bowers, a former state attorney general, and Bob Wilson, a former DeKalb County district attorney, handled the investigation but were not given a chance to answer reporters' questions at the press conference. According to the AJC, nearly 50 of the Georgia Bureau of Invesigation's 240 officers assisted in the probe.
Deal says he's waiting on Attorney General Sam Olens' advice to release the full report. Until then, we have the following summary from the governor's office to shake our heads about:
* Thousands of children were harmed by the 2009 CRCT cheating by being denied remedial education because of their inflated CRCT scores.
- We found cheating in 44 of the 56 schools we examined (78.6%). There were 38 principals of those 56 schools (67.9%) found to be responsible for, or directly involved in, cheating.
- We determined that 178 teachers and principals in the Atlanta Public Schools System cheated. Of the 178, 82 confessed to this misconduct. Six principals refused to answer our questions, and pled the Fifth Amendment, which, under civil law is an implied admission of wrongdoing. These principals, and 32 more, either were involved with, or should have known that, there was test cheating in their schools.
- We empathize with those educators who felt they were pressured to cheat and commend those who were willing to tell us the truth regarding their misconduct. However, this report is not meant to excuse their ethical failings, or exonerate them from their wrongdoings.* The 2009 CRCT statistics are overwhelming and allow for no conclusion other than widespread cheating in APS. The BRC expert, Dr. John Fremer, wrote an op-ed article for the AJC in which he said there was widespread, organized cheating in APS.
* The drop in 2010 CRCT erasures confirm the conclusion above.
* Cheating occurred as early as 2001.
* There were warnings of cheating on CRCT as early as December 2005/January 2006. The warnings were significant and clear and were ignored.
* Cheating was caused by a number of factors but primarily by the pressure to meet targets in the data-driven environment.
* There was a major failure of leadership throughout APS with regard to the ethical administration of the 2009 CRCT.
* A culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation existed in APS, which created a conspiracy of silence and deniability with respect to standardized test misconduct.
* In addition to the 2009 CRCT cheating, we found other improper conduct: several open record act violations; instances of false statements; and instances of document destruction.
A statement from Mayor Kasim Reed, plus other updates, after the jump.
UPDATE 1:30 p.m: Mayor Kasim Reed issues a statement:
“Today is a dark day for the Atlanta Public School system. The State of Georgia’s investigation into allegations of widespread cheating on the CRCT test confirms our worst fears. There is no doubt that systemic cheating occurred on a widespread basis in the school system.Further, there is no question that a complete failure of leadership in the Atlanta Public School system hurt thousands of children who were promoted to the next grade without meeting basic academic standards.
I am grateful to former Governor Sonny Perdue and Governor Nathan Deal for their leadership on this issue and for bringing the grave problems facing the Atlanta Public School system to light. The investigators followed the facts, regardless of where they led. I would also like to commend Atlanta’s press corps, especially The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for its service to the public by providing comprehensive, investigative reporting on the test score discrepancies.
I am confident that Interim Superintendent Errol Davis, former Chancellor of the University System of Georgia, and Board of Education Chairwoman Brenda Muhammad and Vice-Chairman Reuben McDaniel will take decisive action and lead the system in a manner that resolves the problems uncovered in the investigation and work to ensure that this never happens again.
The Atlanta Public School system can and will recover from this painful chapter in its history. The system has the support of teachers and educators who are principled and committed to serving the city’s students. The system has the support of thousands of parents who are deeply invested in what happens in the classroom and the academic achievement of their children. And Superintendent Davis, Chairwoman Muhammad and Vice-Chairman McDaniel have my full support and that of the entire City of Atlanta as they begin to move the school district forward.”
UPDATE 1:53 p.m.: WABE offers a video of the press conference:
Comments (17)
Showing 1-17 of 17
What makes me most angry is that after the extensive investigations carried out by the AJC and Governor Perdue’s investigators, the vast majority of our elected officials, including Mayor Kasim Reed, were afraid to call for Beverly Hall’s resignation. The Mayor spent all of his time carrying the Chamber of Commerce’s water, ignoring the cheating crisis, and chasing Khaatim El out of his seat. Reed was wrong on this issue and should never be given control of APS.
As a State Senator, Kasim Reed wrote the legislation that took away the Board of Education’s authority over the Superintendent. Other than hiring her, the Board had no oversight into the Superintendent’s office. Kasim Reed wrote the governance legislation that created an environment where Beverly Hall could lie, cheat, steal and get away with it.
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Isn't it a shame it took so long to begin exposing this very sad chapter in Atlanta public school history?
"What makes me most angry is that after the extensive investigations carried out by the AJC and Governor Perdue’s investigators, the vast majority of our elected officials, including Mayor Kasim Reed, were afraid to call for Beverly Hall’s resignation."
I would have to question the sanity of a mayor calling for an already retired individual's resignation. Back to the drawing board for substantive criticism, please.
I hope the chamber leadership and Edupac are part of the criminal investigation. They created the climate of cheating and they helped with the cover up when the sham was exposed. What they did to the city's kids should have consequences.
Doesn't it always happen that the regular folks (i.e., a few principals and some teachers) get reamed and the elites (i.e., Beverly Hall and her cronies, including those on the "Blue Ribbon" Commission) keep their bonuses and awards and never are held accountable?
Why the hell hasn't even one of Hall's cheerleaders on the School Board resigned following this report? LaChandra Butler-Burks, Cecily Harsch-Kinnane, if you had a shred of honor, as chief and vice chief of Bev's wagon-circlers you would quit!
Um Lurch, so you're perfectly fine with someone collecting a paycheck after the public has lost complete and total trust in them? Continuing to collect thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds based on fraudulent scores?
Sure Lurch, let them, after every indication that they abused their position for person gain, continue to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars from taxpayers.
The insulting thing is that Hall was allowed to resign. She should have been run out of town a long time ago based purely on the state of the school system. I'm not in favor of the Mayor or City Hall having control over the school system because they are almost as pathetic but we certainly need a system with a lot more direct accountability.
These are people lives, not just names on pages. I could not imagine being in any of there shoes.My question is why was APS the ONLY district investigated??
The same pressures exist in EVERY district because NCLB, just a thought.
"The insulting thing is that Hall was allowed to resign. She should have been run out of town a long time ago based purely on the state of the school system."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract
"My question is why was APS the ONLY district investigated?? "
nobody gives a shit about crappy rural white schools and suburban schools have fat property taxes supporting them, thus less competition for federal crumbs
it's all about what makes a better story. the bigger and blacker a government institution is, the more attention it elicits
Eric: Quit the denial. You're not doing any favors for the lower-income blacks that you (and I) care about. Hall got herself US Supt of the Year based on a decade of running the system on mob lines. Nobody was more deserving of investigation.
Progressives have to decide whether to be for patronage systems with high-paid bureaucrats or for educational opportunity for the disadvantaged. Can't be for both.
"Eric: Quit the denial."
you don't know what a denial is. note that i did not dispute any of the claims of cheating, i'm simply explaining why APS gets noticed but other schools don't
it's not like urban school systems are the only underfunded systems competing for NCLB dollars in a results-based environment. federal educational policy affects everyone, you know, being national and across the whole country and all
"Progressives have to decide whether to be for patronage systems with high-paid bureaucrats or for educational opportunity for the disadvantaged."
progressives don't get to decide shit. progressives have been calling for an elimination of property tax as the bulk of educational funding and establishing an equitable state/national funding match that provides a guaranteed per-student funding level. but that can't happen because people scream about how they don't want their taxes to educate other people's kids, selfish pricks
oh yeah and hall sucks, bureaucrats have a code of professional ethics and she fucked it up. out
Eric: progressives get to decide what to shout about on Loaf. Claiming that APS and Hall were unfairly picked-on is your choice and a bad one. "The bigger and balcker the more attention." No. They got noticed because they bragged for years about non-credible results, clearly bullied anyone who questioned same, ran APS as a one-person PR machine - did you ever look on their 'all Hall all the time' website? - pulled down big bonuses and Supt of the Year, and were doing nothing good in the low-income classrooms that any independent observer could ever see.
"Eric: progressives get to decide what to shout about on Loaf. Claiming that APS and Hall were unfairly picked-on is your choice and a bad one."
i didn't say it was unfair. i was explaining why there is so much focus on APS when this is undoubtedly a problem which exists in other districts due to federal policy. google 'michelle rhee' to find out more.
you're really bad at reading comprehension. you're also moving goalposts, just to get me involved in an debate. if you want to debate, respond to me on the merits of my arguments and don't put words in my mouth because i hurt your precious baby feelings
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