Refresher course

Courthouse News Service | Report Eviscerates Atlanta Schools for Decade of Systematic Cheating
A stunning and exhaustive report for the governor concludes that "thousands of school children were harmed by widespread cheating in the Atlanta Public School System," in institutionalized corruption of standardized tests, directed from the central office, for a decade. Teachers and administrators gave children answers, erased incorrect answers, hid and altered documents, offered monetary incentives to encourage the cheating, and punished employees who refused to cheat, according to the report.

More than 178 administrators and teachers from 56 elementary and middle schools in the Atlanta Public School System participated in the cheating on the standardized Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests, according to the 3-volume report of more than 800 pages. (Volume 2, Volume 3, interview with retired superintendent.)

"Eviscerated" is not too strong a word. This is not a new story, of course (CNS posted it on Wednesday, July 27), and it is rather long -- but comprehensive. CNS is a news service targeted specifically at lawyers.

It's also worth remembering that there are more cheaters to find.

• Some schools weren't investigated as heavily as others. 
• Many weren't investigated at all. 
• The investigations specifically targeted the 2009 CRCT cycle, two years ago. Previous years' testing was considered only to get a baseline against which to compare 2009. Subsequent years were outside the scope of the investigation.
• Some of the people named were replaced for other reasons before the investigation had even begun -- and some of their replacements may be guilty of the same actions of which their predecessors stand accused.
• The initial "investigation" was conducted -- tainted -- by the infamous Blue Ribbon Commission, a body with no concern for the chain of evidence. Statistical studies are evidence, of a sort, but evidence that proves only that a crime DID occur, and doesn't necessarily definitively identify a perpetrator.

I confess I want to see heads roll. A little metaphorical blood in the streets would be nice too. As big a story as the CRCT scandal is, it is still merely a symptom of the larger problem, the "culture of lies and intimidation" throughout APS.

I do have sympathy for the teachers who took part in "cleanup" parties only because they felt their jobs were threatened -- but I'm not prepared to let them completely off the hook. And I certainly want to see the willing co-conspirators run out of town.