Sham leads to shame

Beverly Hall, who just a few years ago was the nationally lauded superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, has been indicted along with 35 other teachers and administrators.   The "miracle turn-around" of performances on standardized tests that led to all the awards and praise has now been shown to be a sham, based on cheating by the teachers, not by the children.   And the sham has turned into shame for the city.

But, more important, what has been revealed by the four year investigation is that Atlanta's children were cheated out of the educational help they needed.   Examples are given of a child who scored poorly and then, on the next test, showed surprising improvement.  So the remedial help that this child needed was not provided because she had now passed.  And yet she was not able to do the work in the next class.

Pressure came from higher up, of course, starting with the Bush administration's Texas-based model that focused on standardized testing and rewards for improvement.  But Superintendent Hall's personal greed for fame and personal gain led her to put extraordinary pressure on the teachers and supervisors for improved test scores.  If they didn't produce the results, or cooperate with the cheating, they often were fired or threatened with termination.   These, at least, are the charges in the indictment, which remain to be proved in court.

We have known, or suspected, that this would be the outcome.   The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has done much of the investigative reporting that brought all this to light.  But the indictment of the top official, Beverly Hall, on charges of theft, perjury, and racketeering ** still comes as a bit of a shock.

This shock comes in the same year as the shocking revelation that the Emory University Director of Admissions had for years been reporting false data to the U. S. News and World Report, which issues the annual rankings of colleges and universities.

What has happened to the integrity of teachers?   Can it be explained by the increased pressure of competition that measures only numbers?   Or has something seeped into our educational system from the cultural attitude?   Have we become so obsessed with evidence-based systems and ratings that we have lost the soul of education as well as business?

"Everybody cheats, which makes it all right -- perhaps even necessary."  Is that what we have come to?

Ralph

** The crime of racketeering has in recent years been extended to include public officials who use their office for personal gain.