Atlanta school districts put tests on lockdown
BY MARK NIESSE - THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Atlanta schools’ standardized tests are treated like prison inmates: held in double-locked rooms, protected by a chain of custody and watched by video surveillance.
After investigations showing widespread cheating on Atlanta’s annual tests in 2009, school districts across the metro area have strengthened safeguards against tampering with students’ answers.
Atlanta students in grades three through eight will take the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test starting Tuesday, and some districts already started the test last week.
Atlanta Public Schools has created the strictest protections in the region, keeping its test materials in “safe rooms” converted from closets or book rooms in every school that administers the CRCT.
Each safe room is accessible only by a principal or test coordinator, who must swipe a card and turn a separate key to open the door. Inside, stacks of shrink-wrapped tests are sealed until shortly before students put pencil to paper. Each time the