Thread: Just Wow - Atlanta Public Schools, bunch of cheaters (And not the students)

Investigation into APS cheating finds unethical behavior across every level *| ajc.com

Across Atlanta Public Schools, staff worked feverishly in secret to transform testing failures into successes.

Teachers and principals erased and corrected mistakes on students’ answer sheets.

Area superintendents silenced whistle-blowers and rewarded subordinates who met academic goals by any means possible.

Superintendent Beverly Hall and her top aides ignored, buried, destroyed or altered complaints about misconduct, claimed ignorance of wrongdoing and accused naysayers of failing to believe in poor children’s ability to learn.

For years — as long as a decade — this was how the Atlanta school district produced gains on state curriculum tests. The scores soared so dramatically they brought national acclaim to Hall and the district, according to an investigative report released Tuesday by Gov. Nathan Deal.

At Kennedy Middle, children who couldn’t read not only passed the state reading test, but scored at the highest level possible.
At Perkerson Elementary, a student sat under a desk, then randomly filled in answers and still passed.
At East Lake Elementary, the principal and testing coordinator instructed teachers to arrange students’ seats so that the lower-performing children would receive easier versions of the Fifth Grade Writing Tests.

Principal Gwendolyn Benton, who has since left, obstructed the investigation, too, the report said, when she threatened teachers by saying she would “sue them out the ass” if they “slandered” her to the GBI.

WTF?!?!?!

Public education and the stupid concept of performance pay based on test scores and graduation rates.


Was there ever a question about whether cheating educators would keep their APS jobs? | Get Schooled

...the report names 178 educators, including 38 principals, as participants in cheating. More than 80 confessed. The investigators said they confirmed cheating in 44 of 56 Atlanta schools they examined.

If these people keep their jobs, insurance or pensions it'll be a travesty of epic proportions.

State report depicts Parks Middle as example of problems in district | ajc.com

Christopher Waller worked miracles.

Or so Beverly Hall seemed willing to believe.

As principal of Atlanta’s Parks Middle School, Waller awed his bosses with the most dramatic of school transformations. Before Waller took charge, 1 percent of Parks’ eighth-graders exceeded expectations on the state’s curriculum test. In Waller’s first year, 46 percent reached that level.

Kiel (school's Testing Coordinator) kept test papers locked in his office while the CRCT was administered each year. But in 2007 he noticed that items on his desk had been disturbed. He angrily complained to Waller.

From then on, teachers took extra care to avoid detection, they told investigators.

To reduce their footprint in Kiel’s office, teachers took papers next door to correct students’ mistakes.

Lewis used a digital camera to take pictures of the office. The snapshots showed the teachers how to put everything back in its place before Kiel returned.

The cheating quickly got results. In 2006, Waller’s first year at Parks, the percentage of eighth-graders who passed the math section of the CRCT rose from 24 to 86. By 2007, Parks was meeting 100 percent of its goals set by the district.

Originally Posted by Alundil

Investigation into APS cheating finds unethical behavior across every level *| ajc.com

[...]

WTF?!?!?!

Public education and the stupid concept of performance pay based on test scores and graduation rates.

There have already been examples of this. There will be more.

Lots of educators warned of these things when pay-for-performance and other "incentives" (most were dis-incentives) were pushed on them a decade ago.

The first chapter of "Freakanomics" talks about it (in education, and in Sumo). It's a really good general-audience exposition, actually. I recommended it, and not just for the education angle. It offers good insight into cheating generally: something that anyone in our little web community would be interested in.

Originally Posted by Alundil

Was there ever a question about whether cheating educators would keep their APS jobs? | Get Schooled

If these people keep their jobs, insurance or pensions it'll be a travesty of epic proportions.

Not that there shouldn't be repercussions, but I think that aiming the majority of the blame and derision at teachers is a bad idea.

Cheers,


AetheLove

Originally Posted by AetheLove

Not that there shouldn't be repercussions, but I think that aiming the majority of the blame and derision at teachers is a bad idea.

Cheers,


AetheLove

Oh, trust me, my derision is not aimed solely at them and the teachers shouldn't be the only ones to lose their livelihoods over this cluster-fuck. But FFS, they, of all people, should know better. If you're passing students on who cannot read, repeatedly, someone ought to recognize a problem.

And furthermore, if the excuse is going to be "We were only following orders...." they ought to know where they can shove that as well. I hate to bring Hitler into this as it's completely unrelated. But, if they, or their supporters, begin to use that same excuse then the logic will most definitely apply.

It was a bullshit system from day one and i think everyone know something would happen like this. Also if im not mistaken florida has several counties under investigation for fraud on these tests as well.

Originally Posted by deathgodusmc

It was a bullshit system from day one and i think everyone know something would happen like this. Also if im not mistaken florida has several counties under investigation for fraud on these tests as well.

I would not be surprised to find that this will be the first of many.

Originally Posted by SmokenScion

All that money, shit. this is huge, Like Wallsteet Huge! I bet home prices will feel this, Its all about schools around here. the good schools draw the high price homes, familes, businesses............and all thosse kids that didn't learn shit, oh well.

Yeah. I can already feel the dollar depreciating. :)

Cheers,


AetheLove