Atlanta public school exams fudged

A state probe has found that teachers and principals in dozens of Atlanta public schools doctored students' test papers — the latest scandal involving the high-stakes world of standardized testing in the nation's school systems.

The investigation, detailed Wednesday in a report issued by Georgia Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, showed that Atlanta school administrators emphasized test results "to the exclusion of integrity and ethics." The pressure even prompted one frightened third-grade teacher to tell investigators that "there are ways that APS (Atlanta Public Schools) can get back at you" if teachers don't go along with cheating.

"APS is run like the Mob," the teacher said, according to the investigation report.

The results come as standardized tests generate increased scrutiny:

•Baltimore Public Schools CEO Andres Alonso last week suggested that falling 2011 scores in many city schools could partially be the result of better test security.

•USA TODAY last March examined standardized test scores at District of Columbia schools and found 103 public schools with high erasure rates on penciled-in answer sheets. An investigation is underway.

USA TODAY also found evidence of test tampering in six states besides Georgia and Maryland, including California, Florida and Ohio.

•The Dallas Morning News in 2007 found more than 50,000 cases of student cheating on high-stakes state tests, with 90% of students in some cases showing suspicious answer patterns.

The Atlanta probe found a "culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation" that spread districtwide over the past decade, prompting dozens of educators to covertly give kids correct answers on standardized tests and change wrong answers once kids handed in the score sheets.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first raised suspicions about rising scores in APS schools nearly three years ago.

Former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue initiated the current probe last August, finding that the district's investigation of suspicious erasures in 58 schools was "woefully inadequate."

Student test results play an increasingly important role: At least 10 states require that student scores be the main criterion in teacher evaluations. Some states and districts reward educators for raising scores; a teacher may earn a bonus of as much as $25,000 in Washington, D.C., if his or her students' scores climb.

Most of the 130 Detroit public schools closed since 2005 were cited for having low test scores.

The Georgia report called test-tampering "an open secret." In one school, a group of teachers brought students' answer sheets to a teacher's home and held a "changing party." Other teachers changed students' answers at school after hours. The school's principal told teachers, "If anyone asks you anything about this, just tell them you don't know. You did not. Stick with it … just stick to the story and it will all go away."

Atlanta school board chairwoman Brenda Muhammad told WXIA-TV in Atlanta that the district would work to get rid of educators who were found to have cheated. "We need to ensure that they're never in front of children again."

Georgia state law dictates that any educator found to have tampered with student test papers could face up to 10 years in prison for falsifying public documents. Anyone who lies to state investigators faces up to five years behind bars. Local prosecutors in three jurisdictions must decide whether to bring charges.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the teachers union complained about cheating in Atlanta in 2005, but that the complaint was ignored.

Weingarten said scandals like the new one in Atlanta "are a sobering reminder of the dangers of high-stakes testing. In the end, it's the kids and their parents in Atlanta who are really being cheated by being denied the kind of high-quality education they need for college, career and life."

Bruce Fuller, an education professor at the University of California-Berkeley, said the scandal is "the predictable effect of some policymakers' obsession with high-stakes testing," but added that other educators practice "an enlightened version of accountability" that doesn't put unreasonable pressure on schools.

However, with budgets shrinking, he notes: "Enlightened, supportive ways of raising test scores cost more money. But threatening a principal over his or her job is a way to enforce accountability on the cheap."