Accountability for Whom?
So much is wrong about the cheating scandal in Atlanta: the miscarriage of justice in the verdict rendered by Judge Jerry Baxter, the unwillingness of policymakers to recognize their own culpability in the scandal, the lack of attention to the educational needs of the children in Atlanta and hundreds of other communities where failed policies have undermined the quality of education children receive, and of course, the cheating itself.
There is no doubt that cheating occurred in Atlanta Public Schools (APS), and that it was systemic, pervasive and involved dozens of educators across many schools. The fact that there was extreme pressure placed on educators to obtain higher test scores, and that unrealistic goals for improvement were set, may explain why it occurred but it does not justify it. Educators may not get paid like doctors but they are trusted and generally held in high regard by the public (less so by policymakers) for the work they do. The mere fact that we apply the term in loco parentis (in place of parents) to teachers is just one of many indications that they occupy an important role in our society.
Certainly there was considerable pressure to cheat. It was created by demanding, "take no prisoners" administrators, primarily the recently deceased superintendent, Dr. Beverly Hall. Though she never admitted to cheating or knowing about its occurrence, the threats and mass firings of principals she used to get results certainly played a role in creating the atmosphere that allowed cheating to flourish. But the demanding strategies used by Hall have been followed by celebrated superintendents throughout the country, including Michelle Rhee when she was Chancellor of schools in D.C., Joel Klein, the former chancellor of New York, and yet another now deceased superintendent, Arlene Ackerman, who was once highly acclaimed as an educational leader in Philadelphia.
I knew and respected Dr. Hall and I had extensive contact with schools and educators in Atlanta during the years when the cheating occurred. One of the schools I visited was Park Middle School, the site described in a New Yorker article as the epicenter of the cheating conspiracy. When I visited Park for the first time in 2001 it was a chaotic and dysfunctional school, a place not conducive to good teaching or serious learning. Over the course of the next five years I visited the school regularly, met with educators about how to address the needs of their students, and saw the school transformed into a safe, orderly place where teachers collaborated about their work and students appeared to be invested in learning.
I attributed many of the changes I observed at Park and other schools in Atlanta to the demanding leadership of Dr. Hall. Like many others, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, I was impressed by the progress that was made in Atlanta during the Hall years, 1999-2010, and I did not doubt the stunning results because I had seen concrete evidence of improvement. I had spent time in the Atlanta Public Schools in the past when Ben Canada was superintendent and I had seen the poorly managed schools up close. I was also well aware of the petty political battles among school board members that frequently degenerated into threats and name-calling and were an embarrassment to the entire city. My familiarity with the past was one of the reasons I credited Dr. Hall with the turnaround and for that reason I believed that the awards she received for her accomplishments -- Superintendent of the Year in 2010, a distinguished service award from the American Educational Research Association, an honorary degree from Bank Street College (which I received along with her) -- were well deserved.
Like so many others, I heaped praise upon the district because I'd seen the changes in the state of the schools and there was objective evidence that the improvement was real. An analysis of NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress -- also known as the nation's report card, and an assessment on which there was no evidence of cheating) results in 2012 showed that Atlanta made more progress than any other urban district in the country. Low-income African American students gained 22 points in mathematics and 12 points in 8th grade reading. Writing in a blog to explain these results, former Assistant Secretary of Education Michael Smith wrote "The evidence suggests that there was a lot going on in Atlanta from 2003-2011 other than alleged cheating. The good should not be erased or discarded."
During the decade she led the district of 52,000 children, many of them poor and African-American, Atlanta students often outperformed wealthier suburban districts on state tests. These results caught the attention of her admirers and also raised suspicion. Reporters for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and state education officials repeatedly heard rumors of cheating and began monitoring the district closely. One of my colleagues, a well-known statistician, was brought in to analyze the extraordinary increases in test scores that had occurred from one year to the next. He reported that it was highly unlikely that the increases could be explained by good Accountability for Whom? | Pedro Noguera:
Big Education Ape: Atlanta Schools Cheating Scandal - When Justice is a Crime http://bit.ly/1FLFQvn
Big Education Ape: Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rhee sentenced to 20 years for erasing grades -- Just a dream. http://bit.ly/1EIfoqh
Big Education Ape: One of Georgia's longest-ever criminal trials is over, and it's sending teachers to prison for u... http://bit.ly/1FRSTAO
