Posted on 07/05/2011 5:04:50 PM PDT by Jean S
ATLANTA — Educators at nearly four dozen Atlanta elementary and middle schools cheated on standardized tests by either helping students or changing the answers once exams were handed in, according to the results of a yearlong state investigation released Tuesday.
The report said that 178 teachers and principals cheated, though only 82 educators actually confessed to misconduct dating as far back as 2001 and affecting thousands of school children, according to a synopsis handed out by Gov. Nathan Deal's office. More than half of the district's 100 schools were examined, and 44 of those had cheating, the synopsis said.
The investigators also found a "culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation" in the school district over the cheating allegations, which lead to educators lying about the cheating or destroying documents to cover it up, according to the synopsis. School officials had "warnings" as early as 2005 that there was cheating on standardized tests, but those signals "were ignored," according to the synopsis.
Deal would not give out any further details or release the voluminous report because he said it contains "very specific information" about educators. The results of the investigation are being forwarded to prosecutors, and many of the cases could lead to criminal charges, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at deseretnews.com ...
They stripped the kids of an education/future.
Strip them of their pensions.
By God...I want to see the list of their names!
You do up until tax freedom day every year.
Obviously, every single school now needs to be investigated with as fine a toothed comb as possible.
Or do they think that this rot hasn't gone through the whole tree?
Unionized teachers? If so, would not expect anything less. =.=
The irony of this scandal is there is now no reason to cheat as the Obama administration is in the process of doing away with standardized testing pursuant to the union’s wishes and no failed schools will be closed. No Child Left behind was Bush’s biggest mistake. It was only a matter of time before the Dems took control, and kept the increased spending of No Child Left Behind but did away with all testing standards.
This clown superintendent originally was from San Fran?? No wonder the system failed.
Thanks for the link to the CSM story.
Do you think *you* could teach a classroom of kids who were not interested in learning?
This is happening all over, not just in urban districts; the dirty secret of public education is that over the past twenty years learning has nose-dived all over (as the quality of teachers declines), and most parents who think their children are getting any kind of public education would be shocked at how little their children are learning.
Much of the urban perception that learning is “acting white” has spread out to the suburbs, where white children try to prove how “street” they are; teachers across the board are cheating like this to avoid the No Child Left Behind ramifications of failure. Good teachers complain that because they don’t change answers, their classes fare the worst on standardized tests, and this reflects on them. People should also consider this when merit pay is discussed for teachers; I agree with the concept, but there is tremendous incentive for teachers to engage in even more of this dishonesty.
“or changing the answers once exams were handed in,”
Back in the day a poor student would cheat by looking at the answers that a good student wrote down.
Thanks for link.
Your point is very valid. Schooling begins at home with parents that promote learning as a priority. The breakdown of the family unit (especially in minority families) often make teaching difficult as best.
8:}
“... which lead to educators lying ...”
Um, “lead”?
Good post. I am no fan of ‘educators,” but it is nearly a hopeless cause when kids do not want to learn.
God don’t teach the kids cheat on the test. That’s the answer huh? We had SAT tests in the 1950’s and 1960’s. I don’t remember any teacher cheating to better the score. They actually wanted to see where the students needed improvement!
One of my favorite songs is “Oh Atlanta” - Little Feat. It’s “Oh Atlanta” where the liberals have been screwing the people for over 50 years. When you have a once great newspaper like the Atlanta Constitution Journal, now the Atlanta Constipation Journal, refusing to print the truth about many social issues, and covering up for a communist like Johnnetta Cole (Spelman College) (she was a Castroite operative for Cuban fronts such as the Venceremos Brigade), then you can see why people don’t know shit down there.
It is the kids who suffer from all this dishonesty and no one wants to talk about it. This is the real racism, white, liberal racism aided and abetted by black welfare-plantation mentality addicts (vote for the Democrats and we will keep you addicted to welfare, entitlement, and victim-status).
Where is a Sherman who will liberate these people from their liberal oppressors?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.