Schools accused of cheating collected thousands in bonuses

Schools accused of cheating collected thousands in bonuses
[AJC] Educators from at least 13 Atlanta schools named in the state cheating investigation were paid thousands in bonuses tied to student test scores, according to a review of documents by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News.
Since January 2009, about $500,000 in bonuses were paid to educators at those 13 schools implicated in the state investigation, according to records obtained from Atlanta Public Schools.
...District spokesman Keith Bromery said the bonus program, introduced by former Superintendent Beverly Hall in the early years of her tenure, was now "under review."

Financial incentives for job performance is one of those obvious business ideas that just doesn't directly translate to education. It requires us to rethink exactly what we mean by "job performance." Should a child be able to sabotage a teacher's bonus by "taking a dive" on a test? How do we know that isn't happening?

Day one summary

The overall tenor of the "first day of school" coverage is that parents, with no obvious justification, trust the teachers in their school. The schools with some of the highest ratios of altered scores inspire some of the most fervent faith. I don't get it.

"Oh, I guess they are just a great guesser"

CNN | Cheating report confirms teacher's suspicions
"I started believing that I wasn't a good teacher," [Julie] Rogers-Martin says. "Other teachers were coming in with these perfect scores and mine are not so perfect. I mean they weren't bad, they were just normal."

I'm tempted to respond to this with a sarcastic "welcome to the party" to CNN, who cannot possibly think this is a new story. They are, after all, headquartered here. But reporter Paul Frysh does something that few other reporters do, and he does it well: He puts a face to the honest teachers who found themselves bewildered by impossible student performance happening all around them -- but not in their own classes.

As I've said, the wonder is not that the news media are all over this: They should be. The wonder is that it took so long. It wasn't subtle, and it wasn't clever. When a student is below average one year, brilliant when CRCT is administered and back to below average the year after, how stupid does a cheating educator have to be to believe no one will notice?

They were confident in the ability of their administrators to terrorize everyone into, if not participation, at least cowed silence. This is to everyone's benefit! Don't you want those bonuses?

But... (I swore I'd never say this, because too many people invoke it as an "abracabra" phrase to halt debate) but... What about the children?

Mixed signals

AJC "Get Schooled" | Feds promise relief from No Child Left Behind goals to states moving in right direction. Georgia seems a shoo-in.
Responding to predictions that waves of U.S. schools would be proclaimed failing, the Obama White House delivered on its promise to offer states relief from the controversial provision of No Child Left Behind that all children demonstrate proficiency in math and reading by 2014.

They're going to blame this on President Bush yet. See if they don't.
(Later: Surprise! GPB | State Will Apply For No Child Law Waiver)

AJC "Political Insider" | A divide over prosecution in the APS cheating scandal
[Attorney General Sam Olens] said that the granting of immunity to teachers, principals and some school administrators by state investigators would make it harder to chase down malefactors at the top.

That's not the way immunity usually works, or else no one would ever grant it, let alone two such experienced prosecutors as (previously Georgia A.G.) Mike Bowers and (previously Dekalb D.A.) Bob Wilson. More likely, Olens is looking at this situation and seeing a very narrow margin of success amidst a strong possibility of disaster. A canny politician who doesn't have to get involved clearly wouldn't.

WCGL | APS appoints new deputy superintendent/chief of staff
[Steve] Smith has held executive positions with Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and Georgia Public Broadcasting. He is also a former principal and teacher in Fulton County Schools.

Ah, here he is. I find myself encouraged by the fact that although he has experience in education, he isn't a career educator -- not unlike interim superintendent Erroll Davis. I dare to hope that Davis is laying the groundwork for what will follow him. But he may be tainted by his association with the Chamber of Commerce, and through it the Blue Ribbon Commission.

WABE | First Day of School & New Era For Atlanta Public Schools
Monday, August 8th, was the first day of school for thousands of students in the metro area.
Today, Atlanta, Clayton, DeKalb and Gwinnett all began the 2011-2012 school year.
In Atlanta, a new era begins as the district tries to move forward from the cheating scandal.

This is pretty much the traditional evergreen "first day of school" story: Nothing new here. So why mention it? Well, everyone remembers that the ABE in WABE stands for "Atlanta Board of Education", right?

AJC | Atlanta school board picks new, temporary member
Longtime Atlanta resident Nisha Simama was selected Monday night to fill the interim District 2 seat on the Atlanta school board. Simama, whose children graduated from the district, will occupy the position until a special election set Nov. 8.

That makes it sound like she's a random parent they picked out of line at the West End Kroger CitiCenter. Here she is. She's been employed for 18 years at Paideia School, where she is "multicultural coordinator." Looks like business as usual at the school board.

A tale of two cities

Yes, I know, it's a cliché headline. They get to be clichés because they work.

AJC | APS could pay those named in cheating probe $6 million
Atlanta Public Schools will use $6 million from savings to pay the salaries and benefits of educators named in the state cheating investigation, if the board gives approval tonight.
Almost 200 teachers, principals and staff were implicated in a state cheating investigation last month. Of those named, 126 people are on administrative leave awaiting a due process hearing. The rest have resigned or retired.

The phrase I used to describe what those 126 employees are doing is "running out the clock". If they get to split six million dollars, you could say they won. On the other hand, the measure is to ensure that the culprits' inevitable payoff won't come at the expense of school operations.

And that's only about $48k each. Not really enough of a payoff to trade one's career for.

Meanwhile, in DeSoto, Texas...

AJC | Former APS administrator's fate up for Dallas-area vote
A suburban Dallas school board is expected to vote Monday night on whether to cut its ties with Kathy Augustine, its newly hired superintendent who has been named in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal.
...Augustine was accused of illegally withholding public documents, making false statements and "aiding and abetting" [Superintendent Beverly] Hall in "falsifying, misrepresenting or erroneously reporting the evaluation of students" on the 2009 CRCT, according to the investigation.

The phrase the report used, and used repeatedly with so many of the named employees, is that she "knew or should have known". Translated, that means "guilty or incompetent". I can't avoid the phrase "didn't run far enough, fast enough."

Breaking news:
AJC | Dallas school district votes for Augustine removal
AJC | The APS cheating scandal casts a long shadow, all the way to Texas
AJC | Atlanta school board picks new, temporary member
AJC | APS takes $6 million from savings to pay accused teachers

A commencement speech

Ladies and gentlemen of Atlanta Public Schools, thank you so much for allowing me to address you today. I know you're probably confused that I'm calling this event a "commencement", since you all know that such a thing traditionally happens at the end of the school year.

But to commence doing something means to begin it. So it's actually quite appropriate, if unusual, to refer to the commencement of a school year.

But this is not just another school year. This is a new day. This is a golden opportunity for you to make history. You have it within your power, right now, to take control of Atlanta Public Schools and change it, dramatically and permanently. You only have to do one thing. It's easy. It's simple. And it's what you went into education to do in the first place: Change the world.

Tell the truth.

more...

Everybody thinks they know how to fix APS

• AJC | A business approach to fixing the APS system
• AJC | Creating a new culture at APS
• SunSentinel | Cheating scandal should be lesson for Florida
• Washington Post | A teachable moment from Atlanta’s cheating scandal
• WSB | Teachers, Parents Pray As School Starts Amid Scandal
• NY Times | Atlanta School Year Begins Amid a Testing Scandal
• AJC | APS hopes for fresh start but doubts linger

Look, the fix is simple. So simple it'll never happen.

1. Dot every "i", cross every "t".
2. Say exactly what you plan to do, then do it.
3. Hide nothing. Let the sun shine in.
4. Don't lie. Tell the truth.

There, see? Was that hard?

Meanwhile, here's one quote from someone who should know:

USA Today (WXIA) | Investigators in Atlanta cheating scandal discuss corruption "'There's probably two-to-three times (the number of teachers) from what we named. But we didn't have enough to name everyone,' said Bowers."

That's what I keep telling people.