by Phyllis Schlafly
A national scandal hit the news when Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal released a 413-page report describing how hundreds of Atlanta public school teachers and principals had been cheating during the past 10 years on standardized tests in order to falsely report that their schools were doing a good job and the kids were improving.
A total of 178 teachers and principals (38 were principals), 82 of whom have already confessed, had fraudulently raised test scores so their schools would meet test targets set by the district and thereby qualify for federal funds.
The truth came out after a 10-month inquiry by 60 investigators conducting 2,100 interviews. The investigation showed that principals and teachers in 56 schools had been cheating since 2001 by various methods, such as erasing wrong answers on tests and inserting correct answers.
The high scores of Atlanta schoolchildren had enabled Superintendent Beverly L. Hall to collect $600,000 in performance bonuses over 10 years to supplement her $400,000 annual salary. Two national organizations honored her with the title of "superintendent of the year."
2 comments:
Jail them. Fraud. Conspiracy. Falsification of fiduciary documents. Felony theft. take the bonuses back and sell their assets. Do the same for Congress and anyone else caught so blatantly stealing. Start having some punishment and humiliation. BLAME someone and make it stick. Probably ain't happening. They'll get off and next week be on Oprah, talking about how the "pressure" made them do things (like lie, steal, and cheat) and you can read all about it in their new book. Seriously. It's Atlanta, people. NO ONE wondered how these scores got so good so quick?! We just took their word? If it wasn't such a long-term scam, perpetuated by HUNDREDS of people, and involving SO much money and attention, it would be laughable. Believe me, there are hundreds of thousands of pot smokers in jail and prison WISHING they had only stolen $400,000 from the schools, instead of selling that undercover agent $20 worth of pot. And all those people who the IRS chased aropund and threatened their ruin over $150? They are wishing the same thing.
Counties close to home are not immune to this. High ranking people from the Board of Ed are telling principals that teachers are at fault if kids won't behave or learn at a proficiency level on state tests. Have you watched the behavior of some of these kids? Saying it's the teacher's fault does take all responsibility off the children and their families. Convenient if you don't want anyone looking at the demographics of the kids who are always in trouble and never working.
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