This is what happens when you’ve dumbed down black kids. Teachers all over this country are now forced to cheat on kids’ scores.
So learning that an Atlanta jury convicted 11 teachers of racketeering and other crimes in a standardized test-cheating scandal is just the beginning, that is if the Department of Education were serious about education.
The reports are that this scandal is believed to be the worst of a wave of test cheating in nearly 40 states and Washington, D.C. by teachers and administrators who were under pressure to meet certain score goals at the risk of sanction if they failed. However, the truth of the matter is this type of cheating is par for the course.
The case stemmed from a 2013 indictment by a grand jury of Beverly Hall, the now-deceased Atlanta schools superintendent, and 34 teachers, principals and others. Twelve teachers eventually went to trial; one was acquitted of all charges and the 11 others were all convicted of racketeering — under a law used against the Gambino organized-crime family — plus a variety of other charges. Prosecutors alleged that Hall had run a “corrupt” organization that used test scores to financially reward and punish teachers.
And she did. Ironically the parents backed the teachers.
The extent of the test-cheating scandals around the country remains unknown because they are hard to find and prove. That’s because the powerful teachers’ union hide much of the needed information.
In Atlanta, the case developed only with the determination of two governors who allowed investigators to do their work with as much time and subpoena power as they needed. The indictment said:
Over time, the unreasonable pressure to meet annual APS [Atlanta Public Schools] targets led some employees to cheat on the CRCT [Criterion Referenced Competency Tests]. The refusal of Beverly Hall and her top administrators to accept anything other than satisfying targets created an environment where achieving the desired end result was more important than the students’ education.
Such is the state of education in America, where the outcome for students is an afterthought when it comes to preservation of one’s teaching position.
The indictment of Hall, who died last month after continuing to deny any wrongdoing, was shocking to many because she was well-respected in the education world, having been named the 2009 Superintendent of the Year. This is as shocking as Obama getting a Nobel Peace Prize for doing absolutely nothing. Hall receiving this award is just how Liberals operate. Award the least deserving, in the event something like this very scandal occurs. The award provides cover, and death sealed the deal.
Maureen Downey of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which helped uncover some of the scandal, wrote in a recent piece that her legacy would be significant, too, but not in the way she would have liked:
There is one certain legacy of the Hall era at APS: No one will take remarkable leaps in test scores at face value any longer.
The entire education system should be put to the same scrutiny as Atlanta. American taxpayers pay a fortune for this rampant malfeasance to occur. The reason we will never seen a wholesale indictment of the education system is the Liberals rely too much on teaching ignorance to blow the system up.
You can bet there was no need to fudge the scores of most of the Asian kids!
