DEL.ICIO.USDeKalb DA opens investigation of CRCT scores
Allegations of cheating could lead to felony charges
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
The DeKalb District Attorney’s office has launched a probe into allegations of cheating on school standardized tests that could lead to criminal charges.
Don Geary, chief assistant to the district attorney, said Wednesday that state law makes it a felony to tamper with state documents.
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State officials last week revealed they had found “overwhelming” evidence that someone had changed answers on retests for state Criterion Referenced Competency Tests that fifth graders at four schools took last summer.
All four schools would have failed to meet federal standards — Adequate Yearly Progress — without the retest.
The AJC reported last December that a handful of schools made nearly statistically impossible gains between the first test administration and the retests. The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement followed with an erasure analysis that identified unusual numbers and patterns of changed answers on test sheets at the four schools.
Geary said the investigation will not necessarily be limited to Atherton Elementary, the DeKalb school that had the most extraordinary gains.
The school’s principal, James Berry, resigned after being confronted with questions about the scores. The district removed Assistant Principal Doretha Alexander from the campus pending further investigation.
“We’re looking at everything,” Geary said. “It could lead us anywhere, it could lead us only there.”
He would not say who or how many people are targets of the investigation.
Representatives of the Fulton County District Attorney’s office could not be immediately reached to say whether they would investigate similar concerns about two schools in that county — Atlanta Public Schools’ Deerwood Academy and the Fulton County school district’s Parklane Elementary. The fourth school is Burroughs-Molette Elementary in Glynn County.
State Sen. Dan Weber, R-Dunwoody, said this week that he will propose a new state law at the next legislative session to make it illegal to tamper with standardized tests. But Geary said the law on the books now “works really well.”
