Education Week posted Arthur Richard Greenberg's account of what he witnessed during the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal while working for a nonprofit trying to improve student performance in the system.

He says the experience was “totally surprising and dismayingly consistent.” He saw students and teachers focused only on test preparation for the statewide exams, rather than teaching and learning content.

“We should know by now that test scores do not always equate with knowledge, and that teachers still need to really teach, not just prep students for tests,” Greenberg writes.

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Uta Thomas picks up her son, Jax, during a public hearing in Atlanta on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. She implored the school board not to close Dunbar Elementary. 
"You would centralize education to decentralized families," she said. "You would break apart a community hub." (Abbey Cutrer / AJC)

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com

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Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat gives a tour of Fulton County Jail in  2023. (Natrice Miller/AJC 2023)

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC