Cheating Scandal in Atlanta Public Schools
 

http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/inve...g-1001375.html

APS is just one of the districts in the metro Atlanta area. The original study that found the cheating found occasional scattered problems around the state, but nothing like what they found in APS. The stuff hit the fan when, unlike other districts, APS seemed to do very little after having their own panel investigate and report on the problem, so the then-governor ordered a new investigation.

That sucks.

Old news: Public school systems, especially districts with certain demographics, shouldn't be left to struggle.

What do you mean about being left to struggle?

APS actually has some of the highest funding per student in the state. The kids' homes may be poor, but the district is not. Mismanaged, almost certainly, but they've got the resources coming in. If you have an elected school board who appoints the superintendent, who comes in to save the day?

At this point, I can see the state justifying more regulation of the district, but short of this kind of investigation, how do you justify taking authority away from the elected school board, even if it's the name of preventing them from struggling?

Which demographics?

And how do you stop them from struggling?

What is a total joke is that the Superintendent and her staff basically are saying "we don't know nuthing".

Well, sweetie, you were told and/or how could you explain such huge rises in scores and dropping when the scandal hit?

As the report said, they were quick to take credit but quicker to deny that something was wrong.

But if *real* scores were used, wouldn't they have faced losing most of their federal funding due to NCLB? Basing funding on test scores is going to lead to things like this. I'm not justifying their behavior, just noting that people will do what they need to do to get funding if desperate.

I can hardly believe they haven't rescinded her award as top superintendent in the US. I also see the Gates Foundation will continue to drop cash on them. I know they need the extra support, but how about a little help out here in the 'burbs? Teaching positions are being cut left and right out here.

So many thoughts here... I'll preface this by saying I grew up in Atlanta and went to public schools in Fulton County.

1. APS needs to start recruiting teachers from Gwinnett, Cobb and Dekalb (and beyond) to come in and teach. Not teach for the CRCT, but to come in and get the basics under control. If they have the basics, the CRCT is much easier.

2. The people in North Fulton who want to break off and become Milton County need to shut the hell up and start becoming part of the solution. Don't like what's going on in South Fulton? Work on it, don't walk away from it. And remember that when you were Milton County during the depression, Fulton incorporated you and saved your ass. Maybe it's time to pay up?

3. Fire every last person who was complicit in the cheating scandal. The message you need to send educators, parents and children is that what happened is not acceptable, and it's not going to happen again.

4. Standardized tests are for the birds. I understand why they're necessary, but really, they're one of many ways to gauge comprehension. They are, to paraphrase John McCain circa 2008, doing microscopic surgery with a chainsaw. As long as there are standardized tests, we will have cheating scandals that were enacted to circumvent the system. It's the American Way!!

Ok, that's all I have to say for now.

^^^^ BraveMaroon,

I understand all your points except #1. Why would recruiting teachers from certain areas (counties) make a difference? Are Georgia teachers held to a state requirement, or a county requirement?

We have had the same cheating problem here in Houston at certain schools with certain teachers, but nothing on this scale district wide.

BraveMaroon, I get what you are saying about Fulton in general but as a taxpayer for 25 yrs there (3 now in Gwinnett) and having lived in North Fulton from when it was just a bunch of cows and crappy roads, I always felt that we got the short end of the stick when it came to funds for schools, park and rec, etc. Both of my daughters graduated from Fulton public schools. IMO Gwinnett is doing a much better job of distributing the funds equally. I am not opposed to South Fulton getting an extra boost but many of us never really felt that we had a voice.

I agree about getting new teachers in there but have never understood why the APS had a reputation of some of the worst teachers. Didn't they pay as much or more? Maybe you have more insight and can shed some light on that for me.

Exactly. Struggle comes from all sides. A predominantly poor district will have struggles even if it has "some of the highest funding per student in the state." That funding buffers some of the effects and gets the school district more (just "more") up to par. What happens once the school is supposedly up to par is a different story.

Misappropriated funds, teachers and staff who are considered inadequate for whatever reasons, and cheating scandals---all more likely to happen at certain districts no matter what state you are in.

I lived in North Fulton for 30 years (born, raised and schooled), and had to laugh at the cows and crappy roads. Alpharetta used to be a joke - it was where hillbillies lived. Times have changed. I think that Fulton could always improve the distribution of funds, but I think North Fulton needs to drop the Us vs. Them mentality.

My thought with APS teachers is that they don't make quite as much as their counterparts in outlying counties, and most people who live in Atlanta don't actually live in Atlanta. Like, I'm "from Atlanta", and by that, I mean I was born at Piedmont Hospital and grew up in Roswell - I also lived in Atlanta after graduation, and because my voting district was technically unincorporated Sandy Springs (right on the edge of Buckhead), I didn't get to vote for a mayor (talk about not having a voice). This was a decade ago, so again - it's been awhile. You need to pay people a little more so that they can either live in the city comfortably, or are willing to get up every morning and drive in from Duluth or Lithonia or Marietta.

To SigmaDiva's point, I don't think living outside of Atlanta makes you a better teacher automatically, but I think if they had more to offer in general and cast a wider net in recruiting, I think they'd get some great talent. I think that's true not just for Atlanta, but in general. Make being a teacher something worth doing, and the right kinds of people will flock to the profession.

That doesn't solve the problem of a corrupt system, but it's a start.

Nope. Only non-compliance results in loss of funds*. (Like you didn't give the tests, submit reports, that kind of thing, I think.) Funding is based on testing in the sense that you have to participate to get money, but not very tightly based on the results.

I believe the worst case for failing schools is restructuring in which the majority of staff are replaced at the school, but what's apparently really happened in most of the cases that have gone that far in other states is that the majority of staff will be moved within the district, rather than completely terminated. AND other corrective action counts as restructuring, like extending the day, etc, as I understand it. The district really didn't face that kind of pressure.

And there are other districts that have similar demographics in Georgia who apparently didn't feel the need to cheat, so I don't think there's any reason to give them a "well-their-backs-were-to-the-wall" pass on a systemic level. At the individual level, it's a little more complicated for me because I think it would be very hard to resist that level of direct pressure from your principal and colleagues, and other elementary jobs were pretty hard to find during this time period, for the most part.

But even then, you don't seen cheating in 100% of APS classrooms, so some people did act ethically in spite of the pressure.

This is district created pressure that was apparently resistible for some.

ETA: http://www.georgia-criminal-lawyers....egin_frau.html

Apparently, they were seeking additional federal funds for being "Distinguished" schools. And they could have lost this additional funding if they didn't score as well. But NCLB doesn't result in loss of your basic federal funding unless you opt out.

EATA: http://old.sccpss.com/District/Acade...+and+Myths.htm

This is kind of nice overview and explains that regular federal funding isn't tied to results.

AMEN! I LOATHE standardized tests! In my school, testing starts in May so as of March, all regular teaching of the curriculum is put to a halt and we are to teach ONLY the "essential standards" that are tested heavily in the test so that our students can receive higher scores. We also hold tutoring sessions everyday after school for those students who are borderline being proficient so that they can score Proficient or Advanced. We don't allow the kids who are Basic or lower to enjoy these tutoring sessions b/c if they go from Far Below Basic to Basic, no points are awarded. They MUST be Proficient or Advanced.

Once we receive our scores, students who did score Proficient or Advanced get a BBQ & party during the school day. Those who did not get to stay in the classroom and work on study skills and writing & are left to reflect as to why the didn't get Proficient or Advanced. The teachers on the other hand have their scores posted noticeable so that everyone else on staff can see how they compared to every other teacher in their grade level. Then you can see how awesome you are or how much you suck as a teacher.

And people wonder why there's so much pressure put on students and teachers? Testing does not work if it is used as the ONLY means of measuring success.

APS is one of the higher paid Metro areas districts, I'm pretty sure. Their salary information is down right now, so I can't check.

You guys doing the North Fulton/ South Fulton comparison are looking at a whole different district, but it's an interesting comparison with APS at the South Fulton level.
The demographics are comparable, but there's no systemic South Fulton cheating scandal. South Fulton schools aren't necessarily known for their great administration and some are really hard to staff, and yet, nothing like an APS response to testing pressure.

It's one thing to talk about supporting a struggling district, but if the district has repeated demonstrated that it mismanaged money and already has a surplus of county level administrators and non-classroom positions, what are you really going to do? What form does the support take?

And something else to consider, especially as data analysis seems to show a lot of the seemingly good urban results failing apart in terms of suspicious test gains, is that it's really hard to find people who have demonstrated success in schools like APS and South Fulton. Someone who can be a great principal with the situation at Chattahoochee doesn't necessarily have the skill set necessarily to make it happen at Tri-Cities. Just because a teacher can teach the heck out of kids at Walton doesn't mean he or she can motivate the kids at Crim. Even if you raised salaries to the point that people applied, a lot of suburban folks who look good on paper because they've been at schools with a lot of academic parental involvement, are simply not going to be able to get the job done without it.

I'm certainly not saying that we quit trying, but saying districts shouldn't be left to struggle and actually figuring out what to do are wildly different things. Most of the things people think will work have been tried in various forms.

But doesn't think indicate more a screwed up response to testing, rather than the evil of testing itself? How about your school trusts you to teach the curriculum and a well-taught curriculum is measured in the test scores? How about within your school, you all know that not everyone gets kids with the same skill level coming in, so you judge each others results accordingly?

I agree that testing shouldn't be the only measure, and I especially think that results should focus on growth rather than absolute proficiency measures unrelated to where the kids came in.

But when schools do stuff just to game the results (here I don't mean cheating, but I mean the stuff you described like not tutoring some kids since their results are expected to change the school level outcome), that's not the fault of testing. It's the stupid way administrators take shortcuts rather than focusing on good teaching. It's a choice to go with what they perceive as easier rather than doing the right thing. The tests aren't to blame for that.

Exactly. We've always had standardized tests. I took them in school. It's the way that they are being interpreted and used to change the curriculum by administrators that is the problem. The actual tests are not the problem. Tests can be an excellent tool but shouldn't be the only one. Nor should they only be used to pat the backs of proficient or advanced students/ teachers. A bad result is an area for improvement, not a sign to fire a teacher or dismantle a school.

I think comparative bad test results among kids who started at the same place and with similar level of home support IS probably indicative of a problem with the teacher or with the school. And I think that after five years of the same problem, dismantling a school might be the way to go.

But I don't think that's what has happened with NCLB. I think that we've been seeing similar results for kids with similar achievement levels and demographics at most schools we've tested (relative to the particular state's test), and we've just been labeling more and more schools as the proficiency standard goes up.

I do think that we've seen actual gains in student achievement over the years as measured by NAEP (even though the gains weren't as great as the gains on the tests the states were pushing), so I think NCLB did actually do good things, especially for subgroup kids.

But I think it's particularly revealing that just as the traditionally "good" schools will start having trouble with AYP since the proficiency standards are really high, politicians are suddenly concerned with amending the law*. I guess it was okay to label all the poor, majority minority schools failing, but it's a travesty to do it to the suburban stars.

*The only way it was ever realistic to have everyone at grade level was if your standard for grade level was really, really low.

It all comes down to money. Admins do take these shortcuts because we're under pressure to have our schools make the API & AYP scores here in California. What blows for us is that if your school does not make them, you get taken over by the state & get lots of money given to your school to purchase computers, ipads for teachers & admins, etc. If your school does make AYP & API scores, you get a pat on the back & no money. I've given the test & looked at it. All I can say is :rolleyes:. It's wishful thinking to believe that teachers will be trusted to teach the curriculum around here because of the level of importance placed on testing by admins & district officials.

There have been hints of cheating around here but nothing to the level of Atlanta (at least that's been disclosed).

As for good teaching, teachers no longer have the freedoms to have well-balanced & well-rounded students. For example, at my school, our focus is on reading, writing & math. All art, music & "fluff" curriculum have been cut. We are not allowed to waste time teaching science & social studies after March b/c standardized tests don't test those in the primary grades. LAME!
We have to stick to the curriculum (either HM or Open Court) and that's it. Creativity is NOT encouraged whatsoever. So sad. :(

While not directly "losing funds" for failure to meet the AYP, the following requirement definitely leads to losing funds within a district:

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 also established new educational options for students who attend Title I schools that are identified for improvement. School districts must offer these students the option to transfer to another school in the district that is not identified for improvement and must provide or pay for transportation. If the district does not have space to accommodate all transfer requests, it must give priority to low-achieving students from low-income families.

http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7...5666--,00.html


So, they lose the funding for those students who choose to transfer AND must pay for their transportation even if they aren't receiving funding for them.

Well, these transfers are limited to the same district, so while the funds might move from one school to another, they are still within APS: APS wouldn't lose money on the transfers themselves.

They might lose money for the transportation costs certainly, but I doubt that's what all this was about really.

ETA: I didn't know if you'd know this or not since you're in a different professional field, but teaching contracts are at the district level rather than the school level (I think everywhere, but certainly in Georgia). So a teacher wouldn't necessarily need to be afraid that if enrollment went down at her school because of transfers within the district that she'd lose her job. If you were going to be renewed for the next year performance and experience-wise and there were still the same number of kids in the district, you'd probably just get moved to a new school since you are a district employee, not a school employee. The administrators might be in a different boat, but if the district itself weren't corrupt, they wouldn't have anything to worry about either. The county office would know the challenges they faced at their schools and would have reasonable expectations for improvement. And since the total pool of funding wouldn't really be reduced, they'd be able to offer support.

I don't have a supporting document to link, but I think I've seen previously that a very low percentage of kids at Needs Improvement Schools choose to transfer, so the new transportation costs would probably be a drop in the bucket.

The next paragraph in that link I posted is:
If the district does not have any other school to which students can transfer, it is required to attempt to make arrangements with neighboring districts and is expected to make additional efforts to improve the services in the identified schools.

This is what is happening here. School of choice has kids flocking to neighboring districts. It tends to be the parents who are engaged and the kids who are successful who leave the school so the original district loses the kids who would succeed and their AYP drops even more. Most of the districts in my immediate area have only one high school. Even as schools are making cuts now, the superintendents and school boards are pretty much colluding so that they are cutting the same things to avoid further loss of students to the other districts. When they were talking about cutting AP classes at my kids' high school, I told them we'd just school of choice to the district closest to my house. Then that district contemplated the same exact cuts. Thankfully, neither district cut AP classes. Those cuts weren't related to students leaving due to school of choice though, just massive cuts in funding from the state.

I agree, AGDee. As a product of public schools, I remember when zones were changed so that the public schools could be ranked in terms of "haves/smart kids/other high status groups" and "have nots/smart kids/other low status groups." Before then, each school was more diverse in terms of social class, family background, race and ethnicity, and therefore (since these are highly correlated) school performance and educational attainment. I'm sure people can figure out what the outcome of that was and that persisted even after the state provided funding for the "have not" schools. What Joe Clark did is a rarity. And there are families who would transfer if they could financially and legally do so. But, we don't want everyone to transfer, that would defeat the purpose and admit that there are lesser schools. Yikes. Remember the cases of Tonya McDowell and Yolanda Miranda who both got caught lying about their addresses for school purposes?


I say, again, what is going on in APS is going on in other public schools systems (especially those that serve particular demographics) across the country. I'm not concerned with the cheating scandal (that has been caught) but with why they felt the need to do this. I doubt it was just loser teachers and staff who were too darn lazy and wanted to misappropriate funds. But, if people insist that's what the issue is, why are these schools being given teachers and staff who are lazy losers who want to misappropriate funds? That type of thing wouldn't fly in certain school districts.

The issues of school resources, standardized tests, zoning, and districting have been discussed since the 1980s. These issues are assessed based on outcome and not intent. The intent of having standardized tests is not the point. No one is saying standardized tests are THE problem; nor are people blaming those who thought/think tests are a good idea--I consider tests to be a decent idea ONLY when students (across schools and across districts) are given the proper preparation. The outcome of these tests and zoning across the country is the real point. The outcome reveals some issues that people across the country have been finding various ways to address.

/long post

Who is insisting this?

I think it was caused by a county office and superintendent who wanted the appearance of achievement and the accolades that went with it, even though they had no faith in their staff or in their students. And they created the pressure for everyone else. I think there are probably a small number of teachers and principals, as there were elsewhere in the state, who would have been willing to cheat anyway because as individuals they wanted to look good or wanted their kids to look good. But I have no reason to think those individuals, independent of the corrupt county office and the pressure the county office created, would have been overrepresented in APS.

There are very similar districts in the Atlanta area (and in other urban areas of the state) that have the demographics and history that I think your are describing, and they didn't have similar wide spread problems with cheating. So it's kind of hard to think that APS's issues were caused by larger social issues that might seem to excuse the county leadership when other very similar districts were able to resist.

AGDee, we're not seeing transfers between districts down here, even at similar schools who didn't cheat and were labeled Needs Improvement. Maybe people don't realize they can request them. But because it isn't happening, I doubt that presented a tangible enough fear in the leadership to drive the pressure. I think you're looking at people who got tired of people thinking they were in charge of "bad" school, wanted to look good, and were willing to do whatever it took, even if it meant cheating first the kids and then everyone else. Something was uniquely, at least for Georgia, wrong in this system, I suspect it's going to come back to the superintendent, although I think it may have been even more her core staff that were responsible.

ETA: We've got other dysfunctional systems in Georgia for sure, regardless of the history and demographics, but in most of them, individual teachers are still apparently expected to act ethically and still do apparently for the most part, even when the leadership is nutty. I think the difference is that the leadership in APS, maybe aided by previous dysfunction, was able to go educationally Enron.

UGAalum- I agree with your assessment. Beverly Hall's arrogance is off the charts unbelievable. And I just watched a press conference on the noon news in which 3 of the parties named in the investigation as cheaters flatly denied any involvement. Where does it go from here? IMO the majority of the teachers in the APS want to do a good job and sincerely care if the children in their charge are successful. Should they do a clean sweep of the administration including the school board? Not sounding like a bad idea at this point.

General comment. The point is there are overarching issues that led to the cheating.

This is an example of an overarching issue.

In this case, I change my post to:
"...if people insist that's what the issue is, why do these school districts have county offices and superintendents who only want the appearance of appearance and accolades; have no faith in teachers, staff, and students; and who overtly or covertly encourage cheating, misappropriation of funds, or whatever else? That type of thing wouldn't fly in certain school districts."

Cheating is not the end-all-and-be-all, whether districts are caught or not. This thread just happens to be about cheating but, as my post said, I am not too concerned with that. The issues that are pervasive in these school districts manifest themselves in different ways.

Right so there is something going on that is impacting APS just as it does districts with similar dynamics across the country. Whether it is cheating or some other observable outcome, there is an outcome.

I think removing an elected board might prove tricky, but it's going to depend on what can be proven that they knew about, I guess. And if you've driven around in Atlanta lately to see various, "APS Board, Step Up or Step Down" signs, it may prove the case that they all just get voted out over the next few elections anyway. But the thing about Atlanta politics is that you never can tell: most metro area votes are, I think, kind of amazed at the personalities on the board and city council, but that's who won the last elections.

I think I favor criminal charges and professional sanctions for anyone that can be proven, either in court or by the Professional Standard Commission, to have participated in the cheating or the cover up. And then, you take the action that would follow conviction on a case by case basis. If you've lost your certificate, then obviously they've got to let you go. If you've been convicted of fraud, I suspect that you'd be let go from your administrative position. (But I'm not sure the voters of Atlanta wouldn't re-elect you.)

I have the feeling, though, that if there's an effort just to completely clean house, some innocent people who sincerely care about the kids and doing the right thing will be thrown out as well. It's possible that new talent would be attracted to a restructure APS, though, so who knows?

That might be a big part of it right there. It seem like the cray-cray is unleashed every election day and the voters keep making the same sad choices (my opinion only). Two words: Emma Darnell.

Because the voters in those districts aren't minding the store? Because the same voters graduated from these schools or schools like them? Because the culture of mismanagement has run that way so long and people who have resources* elect not to live in the districts most impacted by the mismanagement and corruption? Because we decided that people even in poor and minority districts have the right to self government in elected officials and are reluctant to intervene in a paternalistic fashion, short of the elected officials or their appointees actually having broken the law?

I don't think there's any magic bullet to fix any of that.

But we can insist that public employees not cheat and commit fraud, and we can take action when they actually do break the law or violate clear professional standards.

And that improves things a little for the kids. They and their teachers the following year get a more accurate picture of their skill level and they can know where to being with real instruction.

*Actually, I think it's only people with middle class level resources who choose certain districts. People with even more resources opt out completely and go to private schools.

http://www.albanyherald.com/home/hea...t_on_CRCT.html

The state is going to complete its investigation of Dougherty County school, too.

This is the main Albany, Georgia system down in the southwest corner of the state.

It's interesting to read the full comments because they mention equal protection and concerns about seeming to single out Atlanta.

ETA:http://www.ajc.com/news/suspicious-t...ad-296490.html
This supports the idea that there's cheating all over.

http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-crct...al-295376.html
This lets one see how different different school systems are in terms of the numbers of classrooms flagged.

http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ayp2010/search.asp
And this, if you are super nerdy, would allow you to look at the demographics of the test takers in all the districts.

Only looking at a couple of districts, it looks like there's more cheating in districts with more poor kids, which I think most people might expect because there'd be a perception that the kids started out behind so teachers would be panicky*. But I don't think you see too many whole systems, even with a lot of poor schools, with high rates of flagged classroom. *I think people would expect to see the same about cheating all over if having really high scores mattered to the test takers but all that matters with the CRCT is passing.

If it was that simple there wouldn't have been a perceived need to cheat in the first place.

And as I previously stated cheating and other issues are more common in predominantly poor districts across the country.

Districts can pretend it's an issue with the specific people involved and focus on criminal and professional sanctions. But, since these districts have histories of being horrible multitaskers, I hope they do some sanction but put the most emphasis on reducing the perceived need for cheating and other negative outcomes.

I don't think I denied that there was likely to be more cheating in districts with more poor kids, especially as in regard to basic proficiency tests.. When it comes to cheating across the board, I think it's as likely to happen anywhere. It might be more likely to happen with affluent kids because they have more resources to spend on it, like paying someone to take their SAT.

You can talk all you want about other outcomes, but you probably can't deliver much or people would be doing it. If there were better ways of doing things that ensured success in the districts we are talking about, why don't you think people have used them?

People across the country have done it and are doing it. It is relatively rare but not because those who can enact change are clueless about what can be done. It is a rarity for other reasons...but people want to concentrate on some cheaters. Either way, the biggest lesson for APS to learn from this is not that there are criminal and professional sanctions to hand out.

At this point, it's out of the district's hands. We're talking a state investigation and perhaps a federal fraud investigation with federal charges.

I think that's going to do wonders to cut down on cheating, both because corrupt district personnel have to worry about the ethical standards of the outside world but also because it will give teachers who never wanted to cheat a safe haven when they are being pressured to do so.

The Georgia cheating scandal has already caused testing procedures to be reviewed and in some cases changed, which I think will eliminate the opportunity for the relatively small percentage of teachers who might have tried to cheat just to make themselves look good or because they couldn't deal with good faith concern about what their relatively low test scores meant about their students' learning.

The big thing that I think you are ignoring is that the negative stakes in Atlanta were actually really low, except for the internal craziness in the district. Surrounding counties had a lot of Needs Improvement schools and the sky didn't fall. There didn't seem a big push for expensive transfers in district or without. There's was no big loss of funds. Sure, it was probably embarrassing, but as countless other schools and districts showed, ultimately other than the label, not much changed. As far as I know, we've yet to have a single school in Georgia even get "restructured."

All it should take to do away with the perceived need for cheating is for the district personnel quit scaring the hell out of people about scores that didn't really matter that much, except as they indicated student learning and secondarily resulted in a label that got you a gold star or black mark.

Show me. Link a few.

^^ This poster is trying to boost google rankings.

you can have Jesus come to a school at attempt to teach, but if it's not being reinforced at home with good parenting pushing academics, not much is gonna change.

I know. I recognize the MO. Trying to create those backlinks is hard work...and pricey.

So I take it you weren't out celebrating with the entire population of Sandy Springs when they succeeded in breaking away from the City of Atlanta?

I used to teach. Bringing in teachers from Cobb and other suburbs won't change Atlanta schools. Parents who begin to value education and make certain they pass that value on to their children by having them at school on time, every day, ready to learn and ready to cooperate with their child's teacher by supporting them far more than they do now.
That goes for any school district, anywhere in this country.