Will the cover up succeed?
Read this in the New York Times.
The DC City Council will hold hearings. But hearings are not the same as a professional investigation as was conducted in Atlanta.
Rhee deserves the same scrutiny as Hall.
Given the fear and intimidation reported by John Merrow, hearings will not get to the bottom of this mess.
Who will investigate?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Considering her cavalier treatment of employees, she deserves no less kindness. She never used kid gloves. … so …
Yes! Bravo! Bravo!
Georgia’s then-Governor Sonny Perdue appointed two seasoned prosecutors, former Att’y General Mike Bowers (R) and former DeKalb Dist Att’y Bob Wilson (D). They took their time, and years, and eventually got to the bottom of it. 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.
Do figures like Bowers and Wilson exist in DC? If not, maybe they’d travel . . .!?
In an earlier comment on this topic I suggested Bernie Sanders as a likely candidate and I’ve since emailed him in hopes he might ask a few questions… he’s on the Senate education committee so he has some standing to ask and he’s an Independent so he doesn’t have to answer to either party’s leadership… Here’s hoping SOMEONE is DC’s version of Perdue!
wonder if in anticipation of any possible future investigations the raw data – the answer sheets – have been maintained, or have now been destroyed? After all, Henderson was a top deputy under Rhee when the ’08 scandal happened. Not making accusations, merely wondering.
At the same time, I am going to disagree slightly on the question of the effectiveness of hearings. I think Elizabeth Warren demonstrated this week what a skilled and knowledgeable questioner can establish in a hearing. That said, given the current makeup of DC City Council, “skilled” and “knowledgeable” are NOT adjectives I would apply to the ability to question of its membership
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.
The excuse that corporate managers always cough up is “due diligence”. Education is a public trust; equity and equality are required by law.
On erasures: any competent artist knows how to make clean erasures. When you take art out of the classroom, see what you get…
Why has steroid use among professional athletes garnered more investigations and press than these cheating scandals?
I think Ms. Rhee needs to be sued – because I think she did it all for the money,
If a billionaire (a Koch sibling) recently won $12,000,0000 in a lawsuit over counterfeit wine, certainly the students and teachers of DC deserve some compensation for Ms. Rhee’s deceit.
Diane, An idea. Why don’t you post the Twitter handles of the top education and/or investigative reporters, morning talk shows, and evening news programs, along with a tweet that your readers can copy, paste, and send to them?
If these reporters see that there’s an audience for this story, they may dig deeper.
Just a thought!
I smell a cover up!
We know that “They” have enough money to buy a few consultants that will say something to the effect that maybe something was going on but maybe not. Then the City Council will come out with something like—-DC School cannot afford to spend taxpayer money on the possibility of mistakes five years ago, we must use this money for the future of our children and increased security to make sure this never happens since it is all about the children!
I sincerely hope I am wrong!
It should not die there because yesterday it was reported that the cheating continued in DC into last year, with 18 classrooms in 11 schools implicated –even after security had been tightened. Henderson claimed it was not “widespread” since it was ONLY found in 11 schools. I wonder if this is really the case and think that warrants further investigation, too. Maybe that’s one of the reasons for the hearings.
Hi Diane,
I am a recently retired science teacher (after teaching for 27 years at our science center) from DeKalb County, Georgia. My position is somewhat unique in that I am an uncertified teacher who developed instruction for students and for staff development. I visited classrooms at all levels throughout our county of about 100,000 students and really enjoyed teaching after spending 7 years as a professional ecologist/naturalist.
I have just finished reading your book, “The Death and Life of the Great American School System” and really appreciate the work you put into it including all the facts and the insights about what is wrong with education in America.
I am considering a book of my own about some observations and ideas to help put education back on track by really focusing on the children and what needs to be done to cultivate their natural curiosity and encourage them to take initiatives for their own education. I have some different approaches that I would like to have an experienced educator take a look at, and wonder if you would be willing to have a look?
Hope to hear from you but, if not, please know that I have great admiration for your courageous work and dedication for educating ALL of our children.
Thanks,
Al
Rhee claims she doesn’t remember seeing the note on cheating. Why don’t we put her in a room with all the teachers and principals she sacked so that they can help “jog” her memory about the note.
Cute! Rhee stated that she didn’t remember seeing the “memo” but she did recall that the “investigators” did not see any signs of wide spread cheating after reviewing the “memo”, yeah, the one she didn’t see but knew that they saw!
Another thought, she didn’t remember seeing the memo about cheating. Hmmm. She simply needs to explain why she didn’t find the “results” to be unexpected and suspicious. So much for HER skill set!
Too many conflicts of interest. You cannot audit yourself as that never works. This is too serious. If Rhee was only some regular superintendent it would still deserve for the sake of the parents, students, honest and good teachers and community a full outside competent complete, as in Atlanta, investigation and then I am sure charges and prosecution for criminal acts to be properly punished as common criminals. How about a little jail time for their cheating darlings and if any of the corporate privatizers are involved prosecute them also. Why not? Rhee is not a normal former superintendent. She is the front person for an “Evil Empire” and their goal of “Total Domination.” No one has more of this going on than L.A. led by the phony PHD Deasy. However, we know how to play hardball not patty cake.
If you look at how they tried to cover up Deasy’s Phony PHD you will get an idea of the techniques they will use. Very standard.
I think the distinction between investigations needs to be made.
It is my understanding that the private firm DC schools hired reviewed security protocols; what was in place, etc.
That is not the same as looking at what actually resulted, despite security.
Henderson is already conflating these two inquiries by calling for “security standards”, but that’s silly.
It’s as if one had their house robbed and didn’t call police but instead installed an alarm.
The first inquiry should be what happened, not what to do about it. She’s skipping a step and in a way that protects the (alleged) actors.
Actually, Caveon was severely restricted in what it could ask, and was not allowed to use all of its expertise to explore, as has been pointed out by both the principal of the firm and in comments on this blog today.
According to the Washington Post,
“Catania does not plan to call for full-scale re-investigation of 2008 cheating allegations”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/catania-no-plans-to-investigate-rhee-era-cheating-allegations/2013/04/14/71393e36-a52a-11e2-a8e2-5b98cb59187f_story.html
What kind of representative of the people plans and announces their decisions before a hearing is even held?
When City Council members give a wink and a nod to corruption and claim it’s old news or too costly to pursue justice, this suggests to the public that the Council members themselves are corrupt.
If the DC City Council does nothing to institute a legitimate, in-depth, independent investigation, with subpoena powers, as they did in Atlanta, their own days will be numbered.
The mayor and City Council would be wise to recall what happened to Fenty as a result of his support of Rhee.