APS has spent $7.5 million so far helping cheated students -- the results are mixed

Atlanta Public Schools has spent about $7.5 million so far to provide tutoring and services to students whose test answers were likely changed by educators during the districtwide cheating scandal.

State investigators and a Fulton County jury found that teachers and administrators corrected wrong answers on a 2009 standardized test -- cheating that led to criminal convictions and kept some students from receiving the help they could have received if the fake test scores hadn't obscured their academic troubles. After the school board hired Superintendent Meria Carstarphen in 2014, she got to work trying to identify the likely victims and developing a program to help them inside and outside of class.

But a recent evaluation of the remediation program's first three semesters shows mixed results. Participants' grade point average increased slightly, but they also