ATLANTA
— In a dramatic conclusion to what has been described as the largest
cheating scandal in the nation’s history, a jury here on Wednesday
convicted 11 educators for their roles in a standardized test cheating
scandal that tarnished a major school district’s reputation and raised
broader questions about the role of high-stakes testing in American
schools.
On
their eighth day of deliberations, the jurors convicted 11 of the 12
defendants of racketeering, a felony that carries up to 20 years in
prison. Many of the defendants — a mixture of Atlanta public school
teachers, testing coordinators and administrators — were also convicted
of other charges, such as making false statements, that could add years
to their sentences.
Judge
Jerry W. Baxter of Fulton County Superior Court ordered most of the
educators jailed immediately, and they were led from the courtroom in
handcuffs. Judge Baxter, who presided over a trial that began with
opening statements more than six months ago, will begin sentencing
hearings next week.
“Our
entire effort in this case was simply to get our community to stop and
take a look at our educational system,” District Attorney Paul L. Howard
Jr. said, adding, “I think because of the decision of this jury today
that people will stop. I think people will stop, and they will make an
assessment of our educational system.”
The
dozen educators who stood trial, including five teachers and a
principal, were indicted in 2013 after years of questions about how
Atlanta students had substantially improved their scores on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test, a standardized examination given throughout Georgia.
In 2009, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
started publishing a series of articles that sowed suspicion about the
veracity of the test scores, and Gov. Sonny Perdue ultimately ordered an
investigation.
The
inquiry, which was completed in 2011, led to findings that were
startling and unsparing: Investigators concluded that cheating had
occurred in at least 44 schools and that the district had been troubled
by “organized and systemic misconduct.” Nearly 180 employees, including
38 principals, were accused of wrongdoing as part of an effort to
inflate test scores and misrepresent the achievement of Atlanta’s
students and schools.
The
investigators wrote that cheating was particularly ingrained in
individual schools — at one, for instance, a principal wore gloves while
she altered answer sheets — but they also said that the district’s top
officials, including Superintendent Beverly L. Hall, bore some
responsibility.
Investigators
wrote in the report that Dr. Hall and her aides had “created a culture
of fear, intimidation and retaliation” that had permitted “cheating — at
all levels — to go unchecked for years.”
Officials
said the cheating allowed employees to collect bonuses and helped
improve the reputations of both Dr. Hall and the perpetually troubled
school district she had led since 1999.
Dr.
Hall, who died on March 2, insisted that she had done nothing wrong and
that her approach to education, which emphasized data, was not to
blame. “I can’t accept that there’s a culture of cheating,” Dr. Hall said in an interview in 2011. “What these 178 are accused of is horrific, but we have over 3,000 teachers.”
But a Fulton County grand jury later accused her and 34 other district employees
of being complicit in the cheating. Twenty-one of the educators reached
plea agreements; two defendants, including Dr. Hall, died before they
could stand trial.
But
12 defendants chose to go before a jury. Testimony did not conclude
until the end of February, and jurors began their deliberations on March
19.
It
was a gamble. Judge Baxter warned during a plea hearing in 2014 that
there would be “severe consequences” for any defendant who was convicted
at trial. The gamble paid off for a single defendant, Dessa Curb, a
former elementary school teacher who was acquitted on Wednesday.
“I’m thankful to God that it turned out well for me, but I’m very upset about the others,” Ms. Curb said outside the courtroom.
Defense
lawyers, some of whom were clearly angered by Judge Baxter’s decision
to jail the educators on Wednesday, immediately began planning appeals
and said they were stunned by the verdicts.
“I
respect the jury, but I believe they got it wrong,” said Robert G.
Rubin, who represented Dana Evans, a former principal. He described Ms.
Evans as “shocked and devastated.”
“We
certainly talked about the possibility that this would happen,” he
said. “I don’t think either one of us believed it would actually
happen.”
Just
as the defendants took a risk by standing trial, Mr. Howard had made a
bet of his own when he decided to prosecute educators under a law more
frequently used against organized crime figures. During three days of
closing arguments last month, defense lawyers often said that Mr.
Howard’s office had overreached.
And
on Wednesday, even as Mr. Howard received some vindication, questions
persisted about whether he should have devoted such extraordinary
attention to the case.
“The
jury has made a determination, and in some respects, that affirms what
the prosecution has done in this case,” said William H. Thomas, a former
federal prosecutor here. “For me, the real question is: Was the victory
worth the candle? Have they killed a fly with the proverbial
sledgehammer?”
The
trial riveted Atlantans — television and radio stations interrupted
programming on Wednesday afternoon to broadcast the courtroom scene —
and the city’s school board said in a statement that the verdict capped
“a sad and tragic chapter for Atlanta Public Schools.”
The
district, which has more than 50,000 students, has in recent years
created a hotline for ethics complaints to be made anonymously, ended
bonuses connected to test scores and replaced employees throughout the
system. A new superintendent was installed last summer.
“Challenges
remain, for sure, but we are making progress every day, and there is
great reason to be optimistic,” the board’s statement said.
The
case unfolded at a time of pushback against what some see as the
excesses of standardized testing. While the Atlanta scandal fueled some
criticism, those who oppose testing also argue that the exams force
teachers to narrow their lessons and may not represent what students
learn. Coming amid a political groundswell against academic standards
known as the Common Core, the scandal was just one factor in an
increasing debate over testing and its role in education.
“People
know that the test scores are flawed for a variety of reasons and that
they cannot be relied on as the sole or primary factor to make
high-stakes decisions,” said Robert A. Schaeffer, the public education
director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing.
But inside the Fulton County Courthouse on Wednesday afternoon, the issues of testing were decidedly more local and immediate.
“I
don’t like to send anybody to jail,” Judge Baxter said after he ordered
that the educators be detained until sentencing. “It’s not one of the
things I get a kick out of. But they have made their bed, and they’re
going to have to lie in it, and it starts today.”
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