One spring afternoon in 2007, three teachers gathered in a classroom to “clean up the answers” on their students’ state test answer sheets, former Dobbs Elementary School teacher Derrick Broadwater testified Tuesday in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating trial.
Broadwater’s testimony focused in part on his former colleague Angela Williamson, whom he described as a friend. Williamson is one of the 12 defendants on trial in the cheating conspiracy case, as is former Dobbs principal Dana Evans.
Broadwater said in his first year at Dobbs, he and his colleagues, including Williamson, were given their students’ answer sheets after testing. Williamson erased and changed students’ answers while sitting next to him, Broadwater said. And, along with Broadwater, Williamson used copies of state tests Broadwater made to prepare students for the exam, he said.
Broadwater cheated again the following year, he said.
Broadwater testified he felt pressured to meet state and district test performance goals. Evans had told teachers they could be put on “professional development plans” if their students’ test performance was too low, he said.
Those plans did not seem like attempts to help teachers, Broadwater said.
“The way it was being used was pretty much, ‘This is a threat against you,’” he testified.
Broadwater said he used answer sheets from some of his brighter students as a guide when correcting other students’ state tests.
One of those students, now a top-ranked Atlanta high school senior, testified earlier Tuesday. She recalled Broadwater and Williamson teaching students from copies of state tests and Williamson giving other students answers during testing.
“I don’t know why they felt the need to cheat because obviously they taught us the information,” the student said.
Broadwater was indicted in connection with the cheating scandal, but pleaded guilty to lesser charges in January. He is expected to continue his testimony Wednesday.
Last week, a former student who attempted to report possible cheating at Dobbs testified that Broadwater had told him, “If I lose my job, I’m ’a beat your ass.” Broadwater, however, has denied ever physically harming or threatening to harm any student.
