A teacher testified in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating trial Tuesday that it was sobering and disappointing when he learned a colleague he admired had helped students with answers on a standardized test.
“It was something I found hard to believe,” said Benteen Elementary School teacher Ryan Abbott. “I didn’t think teachers would do this.”
His then-fourth-grade students told him during preparation for the spring 2010 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test that their teacher the previous year, Sheila Evans, had helped them. When he asked if Evans had helped, almost every student raised a hand, Abbott testified.
Abbott, who now teaches second-graders, said he called the Professional Standards Commission for direction, as there was an ongoing investigation into alleged cheating at Atlanta Public Schools. The PSC’s advice was that Abbott file a complaint based on what students told him.
After she learned about the complaint, Evans visited the students at their homes with a form and asked them to sign statements saying that she had not helped them with the test.
The statement went further. It also asked: Did Abbott trick them into making false statements against her? Did he seem to have racial prejudices? Did they need to speak with a counselor because of their experiences with Abbott?
The children answered yes to all those questions.
Evans is one of 21 educators and administrators who entered guilty pleas to avoid the risk of felony convictions and prison sentences. She was sentenced to a year on probation after she pleaded guilty in 2013 to one misdemeanor count of obstruction. One condition was that Evans testify truthfully in the trial of the 12 defendants accused of conspiring to change students’ answers on federally mandated tests.
All those on trial have strongly maintained their innocence since testimony began last September.
Prosecutors moved quickly Tuesday, the 47th day of testimony, calling seven witnesses, including a 14-year-old girl who was in Evans’ third-grade class in the 2008-09 school year.
The girl, now a freshman at Carver High School, testified that she saw Evans help classmates. The girl said she, however, never asked Evans for guidance.
“They would ask for help by saying they don’t understand, and she (Evans) would tell them the answer,” the teenager said.
Evans testified that she only nudged a couple of students when she noticed their answers were wrong but didn’t follow up with the correct answers.
“At the time I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong by saying, ‘Look over your paper. Look over your answers,’” Evans said.
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