Dive Brief:
- After six months of testimony, prosecutors in Atlanta have rested their case against Parks Middle School educators accused of cheating on the the 2006 CRCT exam.
- An initial indictment implicated 35 educators, and 21 have reached plea deal.
- Now that the prosecution has rested its case, the defense will try to convince Judge Jerry Baxter to drop some of the charges, but if that request is denied, the case will most likely carry on for another few weeks as the defense brings more witnesses.
Dive Insight:
As the trial unfolds, it's nice to revisit reporter Rachel Aviv's longform piece in July's New Yorker. Aviv interviewed everyone from the teacher who opened the test booklets early and later re-bubbled student answers to Parks Middle School Principal Christopher Waller, who condoned and encouraged this behavior. During the trial, former educator Stacey Johnson testified that Waller encouraged cheating through intimidation, asking teachers, "Who's on my team?"
Similar to a trial, where people are allowed to share their side of the story, Aviv's article presents the human side of the scandal, ultimately boiling down the bigger issues, like the pressures of high-stakes testing and little support for factors like poverty, that led to it happening. “The people who say poverty is no excuse for low performance are now using teacher accountability as an excuse for doing nothing about poverty," Arizona State University's former dean of education, David Berliner, told Aviv.
One heartbreaking scene in the article describes the school's celebration of its undeserved successes, with a pizza and ice cream party for students when the doctored results came back. There is something sad about students jumping around and celebrating unearned test scores, and that the principle is pushing for this charade to happen. The scene shows the school's desperation and underscores what is currently valued. It wasn't just pizza the kids got from the falsified scores, but perceived validation of self-worth.
