Atlanta schools created culture of cheating, fear
FILE - In a July 13, 2011 file photo, students at Emma Hutchinson School in Atlanta leave after the day's classes. Hutchinson has been identified as one of forty four schools involved in a test cheating scandal. A new state report reveals how far some Atlanta public schools went to raise test scores in the nation’s largest-ever cheating scandal. The scandal first came to light two years ago. Now, investigators have concluded that nearly half the city’s schools allowed cheating to go unchecked for as long as a decade, beginning in 2001. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File) — AP
FILE - In a July 5, 2011 file photo, Gov. Nathan Deal speaks at a news conference at the Capitol to discuss the findings of the special investigation of alleged cheating on test scores in the Atlanta Public School System, in Atlanta. A new state report reveals how far some Atlanta public schools went to raise test scores in the nation’s largest-ever cheating scandal. The scandal first came to light two years ago. Now, investigators have concluded that nearly half the city’s schools allowed cheating to go unchecked for as long as a decade, beginning in 2001. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal & Constitution, Bob Andres, File) — AP
FILE - In a July 5, 2011 file photo, Gov. Nathan Deal speaks at a news conference, as former Attorney General Mike Bowers and Dekalb County DA Bob Wilson, right, listen, in Atlanta. A new state report reveals how far some Atlanta public schools went to raise test scores in the nation’s largest-ever cheating scandal. The scandal first came to light two years ago. Now, investigators have concluded that nearly half the city’s schools allowed cheating to go unchecked for as long as a decade, beginning in 2001. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal & Constitution, Bob Andres, File) — AP
FILE - In a July 5, 2011 file photo, Gov. Nathan Deal concludes his news conference in the Capitol to discuss the findings of the special investigation of alleged cheating on test scores in the Atlanta Public School System in Atlanta. A new state report reveals how far some Atlanta public schools went to raise test scores in the nation’s largest-ever cheating scandal. The scandal first came to light two years ago. Now, investigators have concluded that nearly half the city’s schools allowed cheating to go unchecked for as long as a decade, beginning in 2001. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal & Constitution, Bob Andres, File) — AP
FILE In this photo taken Jan. 18, 2011 Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall, center, speaks with school board member LaChandra Butler Parks, left, and Cecily Harsch-Kinnane, vice chair of the board, right, during the city's specially called public school board meeting in Atlanta. A new state report reveals how far some Atlanta public schools went to raise test scores in the nation’s largest-ever cheating scandal. The scandal first came to light two years ago. Now, investigators have concluded that nearly half the city’s schools allowed cheating to go unchecked for as long as a decade, beginning in 2001. (AP Photo/David Goldman) — AP
Shawnna Hayes-Tavares, a mother of three Atlanta public school students, speaks to reporters at a news conference in Atlanta, Wdnesday July 213, 2011. Two of her children schools identified a state investigation in cheating on a standardized test. A new state report reveals how far some Atlanta public schools went to raise test scores in the nation’s largest-ever cheating scandal. The scandal first came to light two years ago. Now, investigators have concluded that nearly half the city’s schools allowed cheating to go unchecked for as long as a decade, beginning in 2001. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) — AP
ATLANTA — Teachers spent nights huddled in a back room, erasing wrong answers on students' test sheets and filling in the correct bubbles. At another school, struggling students were seated next to higher-performing classmates so they could copy answers.
Those and other confessions are contained in a new state report that reveals how far some Atlanta