Cheating the students
So of course the Atlanta cheating scandal keeps unfolding. So far four employees in Atlanta have lost their jobs. Bunches more have been told to quit or be fired, as 178 received letters to this effect from the current superintendent. Eighty-two teachers and principals have admitted that they erased answers and altered answer sheets.
Look, the superintendent was seen as a miracle worker and won National Superintendent of the Year. The gains that Atlanta reported during the TEN YEARS it is presumed that cheating has gone on (basically since the start of No Child Left Behind) were astounding, and yet no one really dug into it until now? Please.
What really disgusts me is that you know that cheating has gone on in other places but so far, I have only heard about Chicago, Atlanta, and DC. And I love that Arne Duncan is shocked! SHOCKED! by the whole idea that high-stakes testing will lead to cheating.
Labels: cheating, NCLB, urban schools
posted by "Ms. Cornelius" @ 5:27 AM
2 Comments:
Um, those 4 who were fired aren't leaving. They are not working but they still receive full pay ($550,000 for the 4 for a year) and say they did nothing wrong so they won't leave.
Very few of the 178 have resigned. Most seem to be saying they won't leave either.
Knowing this cheating investigation was going on, the idiot school board (even though it was advised by the state to do so) did not include a section in this year's contracts about letting people go if they were found to have cheated.
Now, having said all that. The kids were cheated. The real purpose of these tests is (or should be) to identify weaknesses in the students so they can be addressed. You change their test and how do you know what they don't know?
And what about the teachers who didn't cheat? And the students in Atlanta who legitimately did well?
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/seven-aps-employees-step-1030085.html
One principal and 6 teachers (out of 179, up from 178) have decided to leave. Two resigned, 5 retired. The other 172 will go through the process of having the district try to get rid of them.
http://www.ajc.com/news/schools-districts-to-learn-1030084.html For the second year in a row, the cheating in APS is affecting AYP announcements.
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/hall-defiant-until-the-1030695.html
The ex-superintendent, the superintendent of the year, the mama in charge, still says she didn't do anything wrong.
What a slimey mess. (and my code word for this post is appropriately "rabid."
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