Cheating in Atlanta Schools May Lead to Criminal Charges

(Dec. 1) -- An investigation into accusations of widespread cheating on standardized tests in 58 Atlanta public schools appears to be headed toward criminal prosecutions, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Paul Howard, the district attorney for Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, has named former State Attorney General Mike Bowers and former DeKalb County District Attorney Bob Wilson as special assistant district attorneys in the case. The criminal case's outcome might mean some school administrators will go to prison for lying to investigators or for the destruction or alteration of public documents, both of which are felonies.

"It is now our duty to determine the extent of this wrongdoing and decide in which cases criminal prosecution may be appropriate," Howard said, according to The Associated Press.

Reports said that teachers whispered answers in students' ears and that administrators and educators erased wrong answers and filled in correct ones.

The investigation into the test fraud began in February. That's when state officials noticed an abnormal amount of erasures on student answer sheets for the state's Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests, which tests first- through eighth-graders on reading, math and language arts. In response, the state ordered an inquiry into 58 of Atlanta's 84 elementary and middle schools.

Test scores weigh heavily on school funding in the No Child Left Behind era, and some critics point to the policy when cases of fraud surface.

"This is all predictable. As long as the country pursues an education policy that makes standardized testing the be-all and end-all of assessment -- of schools, students and now, as advocated by the Obama administration, teachers -- such incidents are only likely to increase," Valerie Strauss wrote in The Washington Post last month.

And cheating and fraud is not endemic to Georgia alone, Strauss pointed out. This year, Indiana, Massachusetts, Nevada and Virginia have dealt with similar accusations.

The initial investigation in Georgia, which reported its findings in August, found no significant evidence of cheating in more than half of the 58 schools. In 12 schools, there was statistical evidence of cheating, and in 13 schools there were abnormalities in specific classrooms or grades, The New York Times reported.

But Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue was not happy with the inquiry, calling it "woefully inadequate." He appointed Bowers and Wilson to conduct their own investigation. In October, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents began probing teachers and administrators across the district.

This more recent inquest has reportedly led to the confessions of some Atlanta public schools employees, who admitted giving students correct answers, changing answers on test sheets or watching others do the same.

The Journal-Constitution reported on statistically suspicious test scores in some Atlanta schools in 2008 and 2009 as well. Last month, Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Beverly Hall announced she would step down in June after 11 years on the job.