{"id":932,"date":"2011-08-01T08:44:09","date_gmt":"2011-08-01T12:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www3.law.harvard.edu\/journals\/hlpr\/?p=932"},"modified":"2015-10-02T15:28:48","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T15:28:48","slug":"exploring-the-root-causes-of-atlanta-public-schools-cheating-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/2011\/08\/01\/exploring-the-root-causes-of-atlanta-public-schools-cheating-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring the Root Causes of Atlanta Public Schools\u2019 Cheating Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span>Billy Corriher\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The Atlanta Public Schools (APS) system has been rocked by a cheating scandal involving 178 teachers and administrators.\u00a0 A\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0from the state of Georgia found cheating on standardized tests at 44 schools.\u00a0 Teachers held weekend \u201cerasure\u201d parties, during which they changed students\u2019 answers.\u00a0 The state concluded that the system kept the cheating under wraps through \u201ca culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report says the primary cause was \u201cthe pressure to meet targets in the data-driven environment.\u201d \u00a0The state found that cheating began in 2002, when the requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) were imposed.\u00a0 Some\u00a0commenters<\/a>\u00a0also blamed our increasing reliance on standardized tests to measure progress, but given the unprecedented scope of the cheating, that explanation seems insufficient.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Education reform has become an increasingly urgent topic in the last decade.\u00a0 Whenever reform hits a roadblock, many are quick to blame teachers\u2019 unions. But in Georgia, there are no real teachers\u2019 unions, no organized opposition to reform.\u00a0 So how did this happen?<\/p>\n

Teachers, administrators, and the business leaders who supported the administration all failed to deal with the cheating until public pressure forced them into action. One local columnist\u00a0faults<\/a>\u00a0what he calls \u201cthe Atlanta way,\u201d which he describes as the tendency of the city\u2019s elites to gloss over problems plaguing the city.\u00a0 The columnist finds the origins of Atlanta\u2019s moniker as the city \u201ctoo busy to hate\u201d in the smoldering ashes of the 1906 Atlanta race riot, which killed dozens.\u00a0 He says city leaders realized such publicity was bad for business and implemented the \u201cAtlanta way.\u201d<\/p>\n

A similar phenomenon is discussed in\u00a0Courage to Dissent<\/em>, a\u00a0book<\/a>\u00a0which chronicles Atlanta\u2019s decades-long battle over school desegregation. The author criticizes white and black leaders for agreeing to token integration and failing to support true desegregation.\u00a0 She faults business leaders for resisting integration, while publicly insisting that APS was united.\u00a0 The local Chamber of Commerce remains very influential with APS, and it strongly supported former Superintendent Beverly Hall until the extent of the cheating became undeniable.<\/p>\n

Courage to Dissent\u00a0<\/em>also describes teachers at all-black schools as a \u201ccore\u201d segment of the city\u2019s black elite in the 1960\u2032s and 1970\u2032s, and it suggests they resisted integration because they were worried about losing their jobs. The book discusses how a settlement in a desegregation lawsuit \u201cquashed pupil integration . . . and conferred financial benefits on blacks who obtained new administrative positions.\u201d The cheating scandal revealed that current teachers \u2013 black and white \u2013 also put their own well-being before that of their students.<\/p>\n

No matter who is to blame, thousands of students were harmed.\u00a0 Many students should not have been promoted to the next grade, and some would have been eligible for help if their scores had reflected their abilities.\u00a0 APS failed to help its most vulnerable children.\u00a0 The interim superintendent has fired those accused of cheating, but the damage has been done.<\/p>\n

Some Atlanta schools recently saw\u00a0dramatic improvements<\/a>\u00a0in test scores.\u00a0 Such news used to be greeted with exuberance in Atlanta.\u00a0 Now, it just breeds suspicion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Billy Corriher\u00a0 The Atlanta Public Schools (APS) system has been rocked by a cheating scandal involving 178 teachers and administrators.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peZQka-f2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}