A former testing coordinator who took the stand for a second day in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating trial testified that she called together teachers armed with pencils and erasers to change students’ answers on standardized tests after school.
Lera Middlebrooks, who worked at Dunbar Elementary School, testified Thursday in Day 30 of the trial being held in Fulton County Superior Court. Her testimony under cross-examination focused on three defendants who taught at Dunbar: first-grade teachers Pamela Cleveland and Shani Robinson and second-grade teacher Diane Buckner-Webb. All face charges of racketeering and making false statements.
A statewide analysis found unusually high rates of wrong-to-right erasures on standardized test answer sheets in most Dunbar classes in 2009, including the three defendants’ classes.
Former Dunbar principal Betty Greene emerged from a 2008 meeting with regional supervisor Michael Pitts, who is also on trial, begging Middlebrooks to oversee state testing at Dunbar in 2009, Middlebrooks testified.
“Just do me this one favor. We have to make targets in 2009,” Middlebrooks said Greene told her.
If the school failed to meet district and federal No Child Left Behind performance targets, there would be “changes” at Dunbar, Middlebrooks said Greene told her, and people could lose their jobs.
Greene didn’t use the word “cheat” then, but Middlebrooks said she thought that was what Greene wanted her to do.
Middlebrooks testified she believed the school’s first- and second-grade performance counted toward the No Child Left Behind goals. In fact, those grades were not part of the No Child goals, according to the state Department of Education.
Middlebrooks was initially charged with racketeering and other felony offenses. But under a negotiated deal she pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of obstruction, was sentenced to one year on probation, and agreed to be a witness for the prosecution.
On Thursday, Middlebrooks did not admit to changing answers herself. She said Wednesday she saw teachers erasing test documents, but could not tell if they changed answers because her view was blocked.
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