Scathing excerpts from Atlanta indictment in test cheating scandal
Here are some excerpts from the 96-page indictment returned in Fulton County, Ga., against former Atlanta Schools superintendent Beverly Hall and 34 others in a massive cheating scandal.The indictment portrays Hall as the head of a corrupt organization that used standardized test scores to financially reward and punish employees, and it alleges that those involved agreed to lie and cheat and destroy documents to cheat so that student test scores would look higher than they really were.
The indictment says in part:
…While Superintendent of APS, Beverly Hall set annual performance objectives for APS and the individual schools within it, commonly referred to as “targets.” If a school achieved 70% or more of its targets, all employees of the school received a bonus. Additionally, if certain system-wide targets were achieved, Beverly Hall herself received a substantial bonus. Targets for elementary and middle schools were largely based on students’ performance on the Criterion Referenced Competency Test a standardized test given annually to elementary and middle school students in Georgia. Additionally, student attendance was a contributing factor to achieving targets and obtaining bonuses.Beverly Hall’s targets often set more rigorous goals for schools than Adequate Yearly