According to the story in the New York Times, the schools in Atlanta where the scores soared lost federal aid for struggling learners. One school where cheating is alleged lost $750,000 that could have been used for reduced class size and to provide enrichment classes and tutoring. And that was only one school among many.
The rise in scores gained Beverly Hall a bonus of $500,000.
That must be one of the strategies that the Atlanta school board learned when they received training by the Broad Foundation about reaching targets and using incentives to succeed.
Remember the stories about the “New York City miracle”? That’s when the passing rates went up so fast and so high that very few children were eligible for extra tutoring. When the state revealed in 2010 that the state scoring was defective, the “miracle” disappeared. But the children never got the extra help that they needed as officials crowed about “their” accomplishments. NYC even won the Broad prize in 2007 for its vastly inflated test scores. The prize was announced just a few weeks before NAEP reported that NYC had made no gains at all.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yes, all the incentive money that could have helped the classroom went to personnel costs. Shouldn’t they give that money back? If anyone should keep it its the schools who were bamboozled. How many more turn around miracles have followed this model. Michelle Rhee?
The vicitms are the children. Plain and simple and who is going to fight for them? Not the lobbyist, not big business, not politicians…the teachers who give their heart and soul and keep getting back up every time they get knocked down. I am proud to be a public school teacher, I am sickened by what greed is doing to our children’s education.
I am a principal of a school in Georgia and we are paying a price for the Atlanta Cheating Scandal across the state. The right-to-wrong erasure analysis is now part of the standard procedures for all testing in the state. Any classroom that registers at or above 3 standard deviations from the mean gets flagged and an internal investigation must be conducted. The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement notifies districts of the flagged classes/schools, and they must begin the investigation. The office also insists that schools enact “corrective actions” to guard against too many erasures. Schools are told that teachers are not allowed to administer the assessments for their own students. Detailed records must be maintained during testing sessions that asks teachers to document anything they notice during testing. For us, this resulted in page upon page of notes from teachers covering the gamut of things like coughing/sneezing, raising a hand to go to the restroom (which is not allowed during the test), and asking for clarification of test items (which is also not allowed.) Students who erased even a single response made it to the list, obviously. In short, our state assessments have become perverted from their original intent. I’m hoping to generate more grass roots action in our community to raise awareness of the abuse of our government regarding testing in our schools.
Tony, as a recently retired principal in Georgia, I am with you.
Thank you for your efforts, Tony. I’m even more distressed about the effects of testing on the ELL and special needs students who are forced to take these test with wholly inappropriate accommodations. It’s absolutely immoral what we’re doing and allowing to be done.
I’m working to engage the parents and communities in Philadelphia. It’s important that they’re given the information they need to decide what should be done in their schools!
Vallas helped to mess up Philadelphia. A reporter there told me that the city council stopped Vallas from spending any more money as he was wiping out their budget. Another of Obama’s buddies from Chicago, land of educational and city destruction. Just look at the mess they made there with selling off the citys assets. Now they want to do the same to the school district after prepping it for destruction since 1995.
Kate S-L
March 30, 2013 at 7:16 pm
Thank you for your efforts, Tony. I’m even more distressed about the effects of testing on the ELL and special needs students who are forced to take these test with wholly inappropriate accommodations. It’s absolutely immoral what we’re doing and allowing to be done.
I’m working to engage the parents and communities in Philadelphia. It’s important that they’re given the information they need to decide what should be done in their schools!
Tony,
You stated: “In short, our state assessments have become perverted from their original intent.” No, standardized testing has always been a “perverting” process. See Noel Wilson’s “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” found at: http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/577/700 to understand the total perversions that are educational standards, standardized testing and even the “grading” of students. He identifies 13 sources of error in the process of those practices that completely invalidates the process rendering any conclusions “vain and illusory” as Wilson states.
Yes, state standardized testing has always been a perverting process in more ways than one.
Duane
It is all all about the almighty dollar not the kids
Let’s not forget about D.C. victimes. Where are the independent investigators with power to subpoena witnesses in D.C.? Rhee has so much more political clout with both Democrats and Republicans than Hall ever had.
Here are the links to the PBS Frontline documentary and follow up investigative articles —
http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2013/01/michelle_rhee…
http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=6070
http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=6108
Please, for the sake of the children, let’s get to the bottom of this. Reporters like John Merrow don’t have the power to subpoena obviously. All he and his producers got were shut doors and phone call hang-ups when he tried to investigate D.C.
Yes, Rhee is very connected with those in power, but now it’s time for those in power to distance themselves and realize that they need to do the right thing. Investigate D.C. now. These “no excuses” multiple choice test policies are being implemented nationwide based on what seems to me to be another Atlanta scandal that needs to be investigated.
Education reformers: You may have good intentions and I know many of you do care for poor children, but you have to step back and ask yourself, are you doing more harm than good by promoting Atlanta-type policies?
Hear, hear! Michelle Rhee’s time has come – her time as chancellor in DC definitely needs to be investigated!
Ponder just the one sentence posted above: “One school where cheating is alleged lost $750,000 that could have been used for reduce[d] class size and to provide enrichment classes and tutoring.” [brackets mine]
Also note the comment above by Tony Childers.
This is the direct result of the high-stakes standardized testing mania imposed by the edubullies. Remember this the next time an “education reformer” blathers on about basing 35% or 50% of a teacher eval on the scores generated by such high-stakes tests. John Deasy, are you listening?
And the kids? Is it about success or $ucce$$?
If I bubble-in the wrong answer can I erase it and bubble-in the correct one?
🙂
So who will go to jail here. Will the Regents members who participated in lowering the standards in order to raise scores? Will teachers in Atlanta who corrected exam answers? What’s the difference if scores were raised by either method.
I would think that politicians who push so-called education reform, and champion teacher evaluation as test scores should be the ones imprisoned… ::wink wink::
From your mouth to God’s ears!
Ah. Dr. Beverly Hall. The “darling” of District 13 in NYC. I remember that year the scores “rose”. I also remember telling parents of the next class why the scores had plummeted! But this is what you get with high-stakes testing. And this is why a teacher’s evaluation cannot be tied to test scores!
Teachers who refused to cheat or tried to report cheating or whose scores did not go up were terminated. Are these teachers going to sue to get their jobs pack with all of the pay and benefits they lost since then?
Does anyone know about this?
I may be wrong but I don’t think the state ed dept. “revealed” that tests became easier. I recall reading that an MIT professor investigated and determined that the exams were “dumbed down” over a period of years. To us teachers it was obvious the exams were becoming much easier but who would listen to a teacher????
Why the hell does anyone listen to teachers, especially the public school union thug, lazy assed golden parachute seeking bastards. I don’t. But then again I am not authorized by the educational authorities and powers to be to listen to myself.
LOL
And these are the people who pay no taxes, use most of the services and want to tell us what is best for us when it is really what is best for them.
George, could you clarify? Which people are the people who pay no taxes, use the services, etc.?
Those with enough money to hire the CPA’s and lawyers to offshore and hide their incomes (yes plural) to not have to pay taxes on them. One figure I’ve read is that there is over 15 trillion dollars off shore not being taxed. Tain’t no teachers that I know of.
When your boss is a crook you inform your boss’ boss.If the boss’ boss is a crook you inform the boss of your boss’ boss.You then decide to go to the “Big” boss (no pun intended) who in this case is Beverly Hall –the “Godfather” of running a criminal enterprise—-the Atlanta Public School System.She used cheating and fraud to steal from the children and citizens of Atlanta.Her loyal Lieutenants who also enriched.Along the way the very educators who put children above personal gain were abused,harassed and terminated through the use of fabricated low appraisals.The point of all of this is that this school system was like a dead fish rotten from the head down.The good people at APS have been tainted by a rogue group hell bent on self promotion and leaving a lot of dead bodies (good employees) in their wake.Long prison sentences should be their reward and not bonuses (which should be repaid to the taxpayers of Atlanta).
500,000.00 bonus, really? Puts the Bridgeport mom ( jailed for “stealing” public ed from a different district) in a better light yet. It only takes two weeks to establish residence at someone’s home. Many people have preferred a district other than their own, and have been granted it. So, Tanya McDowell broke rules, she stole no one’s education. Beverly whoever, however, really stole from children, and gives a better meaning to the term. I say, free Tanya!