How and why convicted Atlanta teachers cheated on standardized tests
Then-Atlanta superintendent of public schools Beverly Hall smiles after she was named the 2009 Superintendent of the Year at the American Association of School Administrators’ National Conference on Education in San Francisco. Hall died in March, and on April 1, 11 teachers were found guilty of racketeering and other charges. (Paul Sakuma/AP)
An Atlanta jury convicted 11 teachers of racketeering and other crimes in a standardized test-cheating scandal believed to be the worst of a wave of test cheating in nearly 40 states and Washington, D.C. — not by students but by teachers and administrators who were under pressure to meet certain score goals at the risk of sanction if they failed.
The case stemmed from a 2013 indictment by a grand jury of Beverly Hall, the now-deceased Atlanta schools superintendent, and 34 teachers, principals and others. Twelve teachers eventually went to trial; one was acquitted of all charges and the 11 others were all convicted of racketeering — under a law used against the Gambino organized-crime family — plus a variety of other charges. Prosecutors alleged that Hall had run a “corrupt” organization that used test scores to financially reward and punish teachers.
The extent of the test-cheating scandals around the country remains unknown because they are hard to find and prove. In Atlanta, the case developed only with the determination of two governors who allowed investigators to do their work with as much time and subpoena power as they needed. The indictment said:
Over time, the unreasonable pressure to meet annual APS [Atlanta Public Schools] targets led some employees to cheat on the CRCT [Criterion Referenced Competency Tests]. The refusal of Beverly Hall and her top administrators to accept anything other than satisfying targets created an environment where achieving the desired end result was more important than the students’ education.
The indictment of Hall, who died last month after continuing to deny any wrongdoing, was shocking to many because she was well-respected in the education world, having been named the 2009 Superintendent of the Year. Maureen Downey of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which helped uncover some of the scandal, wrote in a recent piece that her legacy would be significant, too, but not in the way she would have liked:
There is one certain legacy of the Hall era at APS: No one will take remarkable leaps in test scores at face value any longer.
How did it happen? No Child Left Behind, President George W. Bush’s chief education initiative, and then Race to the Top, President Obama’s central education program, placed increasingly high stakes on standardized test scores. They had to go up, or else there would be negative consequences not just for students but schools and teachers and principals. Such testing mandates were coupled with a “no excuse” management push by school reformers who said teachers had, well, no excuse not to raise their students’ test scores. Not sick or hungry students, not a lack of materials, not overcrowded classrooms. Obama’s Race to the Top initiative — which pit states against each other in competing for federal funds in exchange for implementing specific school reforms — linked student test scores to teacher evaluations and pay.
At some point, some schools began reporting test scores jumping high in just a year, though later, these “miracles” did not stand up to scrutiny.
What exactly happened in Atlanta? Here are some excerpts from the indictment:
… 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 Progress a measure of year-to–year student achievement on statewide assessments created under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 Under Beverly Hall’s target system, schools had to perform at a higher standard on the CRCT than otherwise required by the State in order to receive a bonus. AYP required schools to have a certain percentage of students merely pass the CRCT.The Georgia Department of Education requires that the CRCT be administered under conditions to prevent tampering and other irregularities that could affect test results. Any deviations from these procedures are prohibited. Beverly Hall was required, by statute, to abide by and enforce the regulations of the regarding test administration and to certify in writing that those regulations had been followed.APS principals and teachers were frequently told by Beverly Hall and her subordinates that excuses for not meeting targetsHow and why convicted Atlanta teachers cheated on standardized tests - The Washington Post:
Atlanta Teachers Convicted in Huge, Crazy Standardized-Test Cheating Case
Eleven former Atlanta public school employees—including five teachers and a principal—were convicted Wednesday on racketeering charges related to a standardized-test cheating epidemic first exposed in 2009. Twenty-one other educators had previously admitted guilt in plea agreements; all were accused after investigations revealed that a number of schools systematically cheated on tests by obtaining questions in advance and changing student answers after the tests were completed. The individuals convicted Wednesday are scheduled to be sentenced on April 8 and face penalties of up to 20 years in prison.
The New Yorker covered the scandal in a remarkable July 2014 story by Rachel Aviv about a math teacher named Damany Lewis from Parks Middle School, who was the first teacher fired after the cheating was uncovered.* In Aviv’s telling, Lewis was a legitimately accomplished teacher and mentor, and Parks a school that had been legitimately improved by Lewis and other committed staffers. But those staffers were also under heavy personal and professional pressure from an administration that (like many others around the country) relied on rapidly improving scores to burnish its own political standing and prestige. In the end, many undermined their own efforts and destroyed their careers by participating in elaborate efforts to cheat the tests.
The superintendant in charge of the system at the time, Beverly Hall, died on March 2 of this year; she was charged in the scandal but denied the accusations against her and was never tried because of her failing health.
*Correction, April 1, 2015: This post originally misstated that Lewis pleaded guilty to a felony. Parks Middle School principal Christopher Waller pleaded guilty to a felony, but Lewis was not charged with a crime. Atlanta Teachers Convicted in Huge, Crazy