Dive Brief:
- Former educator Stacey Johnson testified in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating trial Thursday, saying she anonymously wrote letters to district officials telling them that former Parks Middle School Principal Christopher Waller was pressuring teachers to cheat on the 2006 CRCT exam.
- In Johnson's testimony, she said Waller encouraged cheating through intimidation, asking teachers, "Who's on my team?"
- An initial indictment implicated 35 Atlanta Public School teachers, and 21 have reached plea deals. Waller has already pled guilty and is expected to testify in the trial.
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 Waller, who condoned and encouraged this behavior. Similar to a trial, where people are allowed to share their side of the story, the article presents the humanistic side of the scandal. Ultimately, through these very human stories, Aviv is able to boil down the bigger issues that caused the scandal, including the pressures of high-stakes testing. Rising test expectations coupled with little support for other factors like poverty largely drove the school to its cheating decision.
