Valerie Strauss writes that it is time for a thorough investigation of allegations of cheating during the tenure of Michelle Rhee as chancellor.
The leaking of the “smoking memo” to John Merrow shows that Rhee apparently was informed of likely cheating but chose not to investigate it.
Many questions are unanswered: what did she know and when did she know it? What did Adell Cothorne discover when she became principal? Why did no one follow up when she reported a cheating ring? Why was Cothorne forced out and by whom?
A professional and thorough investigation would get to the bottom of this mess.
It’s time for accountability.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Perp walk for Rhee, not holding my breath. She knows too much dirt.
You’re spot-on here, as Ross Perot used to say.
The Caveon investigators were strictly prohibited from asking administrators and teachers questions such as:
“Did you take part in any changing of answers?”
“Do you know of any administrators or teachers who took part in and changing of answers?”
“Have you heard anyone discussing the changing of answers or the possibility of such?”
and on and on…
Instead, they asked questions such as—and I say “such as”, because I don’t have the exact wording, just the essence— …
“Now, we know there was NO cheating or changing of answers, right? Right? RIGHT??!!!
“Well, as you consider that this is the truth that THERE WAS NO CHEATING, what other possible causes might there be for the erasures?”
The administrators and teachers that Caveon interviewed then replied with cockamamie stuff like:
EXPLANATION #1: “Well, maybe students skipped a question because it was difficult, hoping to go back later and try again. Then, by accident, forgot to leave that answer blank on the answer sheet, and mistakenly put in the answer to the next question in the wrong place on the answer sheet… for example, bubbled in the answer for Question #6 in the place for Question #5, Question #7 in the place for Question #6, etc…. then later discovered this, then had to move all the answers down one place… that would lead to a lot of wrong-to-right erasures….”
EXPLANATION #2: “Well, we instructed our students to go back and check every single question and answer, hoping to catch any mistakes you might have made… perhaps when you jumped at an answer that at first, seemed like the right answer, but in actuality that first instinct was wrong, and you see where you went wrong, then tried the question again, and got it right.”
Could you imagine a homicide investigation where the detectives were not allowed to ask:
“Did you murder so-and-so? Alone, or with someone else?”
“Do you have any knowledge of who might have murdered so-and-so?
“Did you ever witness any evidence that might indicate who might have murdered so-and-so?”
BUT INSTEAD… they had to ask questions like,
“Now, we know that so-and-so WAS NOT MURDERED… and that the cause of HIS DEATH WAS NOT THE RESULT OF MURDER IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM, right? Right? RIGHT??!!!
“Well, as you consider that this is the truth that THERE WAS NO MURDER, what other possible causes might there be for so-and-so’s death?”
Then you’d get answers like, “Well, now that I think about it, you know the gun WAS loaded and lying on the table where the cat likes to walk around and play… and the cat may have been playing with the gun, and accidentally pulled the trigger with his paw… causing the gun to go off and the bullet to fly into into my wife’s head… and then the cat continued his playful pawing, causing the gun to shoot a few more times, each bullet also entering my wife’s head.. my wife’s known to have bad luck, you see… ”
It’s all in the USA Today article’s documents. The investigators from Caveon were explicitly and absolutely prohibited by D.C. Public School officials from asking questions that would lead to a conclusion that there had been cheating… but were only asking questions that would give alternative explanations for the wrong-to-right erasures.
Knock on doors, wake the world, it looks Rhee’s accountability time has come!
See, Hearing Set on Cheating Claim in Capital: “The City Council in Washington will hold a hearing next week after a memo warning officials of cheating on standardized tests during the chancellorship of Michelle A. Rhee surfaced Thursday night.”
WooHoo!!
She has spread grief and hate in education. She needs to be held accountable for the mess she has helped to create.
The Broad Foundation must be investigated and held accountable too. Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan, Wendy Kopp (TFA), Richard Barth (KIPP), and more were on the Board of the Broad Foundation in 2008. In 2009 The Broad Foundation issued its School Closing Handbook. Details at
“Who is Eli Broad and why is he trying to destroy public education?”
http://www.defendpubliceducation.net/
Let’s add Randi Weingarten to that list, since she has been an enabler of Broad and his handiwork.
Please send requests for a full investigation to Arne…see email here:
arne.duncan@ed.gov
Dearest Arne,
How much does it take to have a real investigation and then prosecution. Almost anyone could convict her in a court of law. There is more than enough evidence. Rhee is a fraud with real big money behind her. They picked someone who would be their front piece and puppet. After all she was not a good teacher for the three years she did teach. There are a lot of questions as to why and how she got to where she did with no real record of any time that would qualify her to be a janitor much less a national force and presence. Joke on us. Now is the time to correct this as the price that society pays for this kind of fraud is way too high coupled with all the frauds being perpetrated on us.
When it comes to Duncan look right in the eye of Obama. They worked together in Chicago so he has intimate knowledge of what he is and what he does and where he is going. They are on the same track and that is why he is there. FOR DESTRUCTION.
So did this memo just suddenly appear, or did the USDE see it before as someone said the NY Times claimed?
“Many questions are unanswered: what did she know and when did she know it?”
Everything from the start as she was the “Broadmother”.
The broadmutha of all broadmuthas…..is she going down?
Georgia’s governor at the time, Sonny Perdue, knew he had a mess on his hands with the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal. To get to the bottom of it, he appointed two career prosecutors, Republican former Att’y General Mike Bowers and former DeKalb DA and moderate Democrat Bob Wilson. They took their time, years, and got to the bottom of it. The key was that the investigation was not only thorough and professional but also fair, and due to the shared responsibility, perceived as fair and non-political. That was key. Doesn’t seem that hard to replicate, if anyone wanted to or had an incentive to. Common Cause Georgia gave Wilson and Bowers a Democracy Awards last year for their work. http://bit.ly/rrLlEU.
I predict that her overlords will jettison her and try to distance themselves, but that she will get off pretty lightly and be allowed to quietly slink away.
Sadly, I agree. But she will SLITHER away and now we can rename RTTT to Erase
Your Way to the top.
They all lose credibility….you are also correct Alan…many are seeing her and this movement for what it is, a sham.
To all: keep talking, keep educating students, parents, neighbors, friends, families, colleagues.
Don’t stop…we won’t back down EVER!
I sure hope they do. Michelle Rhee needs to be held accountable .
Amen, its time for accountability. Reformers like Rhee always come in quick with quick solutions to persistent problems and like the shock doctrine propose and push through programs that would not even be considered if the district was not under attack. This is the same thing that Deasy is doing in L.A. Quickly pushing through unresearched reforms before opposition to them can develop.I say it time for us to investigate Deasy before it completely crumbles our district. Let’s go back and look at his past practices and see if they were legitimate.