Almost two-thirds of the 44 Atlanta Public Schools implicated in a standardized test cheating scandal are located in southwest Atlanta. A review found that 28 schools in this area showed "minimal" to "severe" concerns of erasing incorrect answers and replacing them with correct answers. Schools with the most severe concerns - indicating over 24.5% of classrooms showed higher-than-average wrong-to-right changes - include Adamsville Elementary, Beecher Hills Elementary, and Kennedy Middle. The interim APS superintendent has given principals at implicated schools until July 20th to resign or face termination, with plans to have interim leaders in place by August 8th.

1. Who's Cheated? An Ongoing Report on the APS Cheating Scandal
By Janita Poe
July 18, 2011
Special Report: Almost Two-Thirds of APS Schools
Implicated in Cheating in Southwest Atlanta
Cascade Patch review of state investigation into 2009 CRCT test
taking found 28 of the 44 schools with "minimal" to "severe"
concern for erasing test answers from "wrong to right" fall within
the Cascade Patch boundaries.
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Credit Courtesy,HuffingtonPost.com
Almost two-thirds of the 44 schools implicated in the Atlanta
Public Schools test cheating scandal are in greater southwest
Atlanta and set to receive new principals by Wednesday, according
to a Cascade Patch review of a state investigation and school
district records.
Seventeen elementary and four middle schools within the
boundaries of Cascade Patch (see Editor’s Note below) were
identified in the investigators' report, first published in The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, as having “severe concern” for cheating.
According to the state, this rating indicates “24.5% or more of the
testing classrooms at the school were flagged with wrong-to-right
changes that fell above the state average.” The southwest Atlanta
schools with the “severe concern” status are:

2. Adamsville
Beecher Hills
Capitol View
Cascade
Cleveland
Connally
Deerwood
Dunbar
F.L. Stanton
Fain
Fickett
Finch
Gideons
Kennedy Middle
Parks Middle
Perkerson
Peyton Forest
Turner Middle (closing)
Usher Middle
Venetian Hills
West Manor
In addition, two elementary schools and two middle schools in the
Cascade Patch area, were flagged for “moderate concern,” in the
report. According to the state, this status translates to “10.5%-
24.4% of classrooms in this school flagged with wrong-to-right
changes that fell above the state average.” These schools are:
Harper-Archer Middle
Kimberly
Miles
Young Middle
Two elementary schools and two middle schools in the Cascade
Patch community were found to have “minimal concern” or an
indication of “5.5%-10.4% of classrooms in this school flagged
with wrong-to-right changes that fell above the state average.”
These schools are:

3. Brown Middle
Bunche Middle
Continential Colony
Sylvan Hills
Late last week, Atlanta Public Schools interim Superintendent
Erroll Davis sent letters to all 178 employees, including the 44
principals of the schools, named in the test-cheating scandal giving
them the option of resignation or termination by Wed., July 20.
APS spokesman Keith Bromery has said the district will start
termination proceedings after Wednesday, July 20, against those
who decide to stay on and fight for their jobs.
School board At-Large member Courtney English said after a
Douglass High School forum last week that Davis plans to have
interim principals in place for all 44 schools by Aug. 8, the first
day of school.
Employees have contractual and legal rights to due process,
according to the AJC. According to state law, when a district
moves to suspend or fire a teacher, principal or other district
employee, the employee is entitled to a hearing to defend himself
or herself. The employee can also appeal to the state.
Some educators are fighting for their jobs. Earlier this month, three
Finch Elementary teachers issued a statement through their
attorney denouncing the report's assertion that they changed test
answers, and they vowed to fight to "clear our names," according
to a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Meanwhile, Atlanta defense attorney Bruce Harvey, who
represents six APS educators, has criticized investigators for
disclosing the names of those who exercised their Fifth
Amendment rights, the AJC reported.
Editor’s Note: Cascade Patch is loosely bound by I-20 to the
north, I-85 to the east (excluding College Park and East Point,
except the Marketplace), Camp Creek Parkway on the south
around to Fulton Industrial to the west.
Related Topics: Atlanta Public Schools, Atlanta Schools
Superintendent, CRCT, and CRCT Test Scores