Get Schooled: APS cheating scandal: Did they do it for the money? Or the accolades?
Was it the prospect of bonuses that drove APS educators to doctor students' scores in state exams?
The proceeds from cheating don’t amount to much money for most of the educators now under indictment for their roles in the 2009 CRCT cheating scandal, a scandal first exposed by the AJC.
Some bonuses were as little as $750. The average was $2,600, according to the AJC. The annual bonuses for certified staff at schools that approached or met their testing targets ranged from $500 to $2,000, depending on how well the schools performed.
I suspect that educators who cheated were most concerned with keeping their jobs and satisfying a demanding boss. Some likely enjoyed the attention that former Superintendent Beverly Hall lavished on successful schools and educators, sort of like being teacher's pet. Hall, too, is now facing criminal charges.
The bonus money forms the backbone of the criminal case against the former teachers and administrators, who are accused of inflating student test scores for profit and to