The National Blue Ribbon Schools Award is the federal government’s highest honor for public and private schools. Winners set “a standard of excellence for all schools striving for the highest level of achievement,” the U.S. Department of Education says. The program began in 1982.
Winning schools must either be “high performing” or, if at least 40 percent of their students come from poor families, must show substantial test-score increases. The department says it seeks out schools “where students attain and maintain high academic standards, including those that beat the odds.”
The top education official from each state nominates public schools; based on enrollment, Georgia gets eight nominations a year. An association representing private schools submits 50 nominations a year.
Atlanta Public Schools has won five awards from the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program in the past decade. How most of the winning schools described themselves – in applications filed with the U.S. Department of Education – is significantly different than the picture that emerges from a state cheating investigation released last year and from a recent analysis of test scores by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In retrospect, it is clear that four of the five Atlanta schools won awards despite signs of their involvement in what would turn into a massive cheating scandal.
Capitol View Elementary, 2004
In its Blue Ribbon application, Capitol View reported huge gains in test scores. From 2001 to 2003, the percentage of students passing the state reading test increased by 43 points. English scores rose 42 points and math, 50.
• State investigation: Excessive erasures on test papers from 71 percent of the school's classes proved cheating, investigators concluded. They said principal Arlene Snowden falsified attendance records and failed to secure test papers. She said she did not "buy into the whole erasure bit."
• AJC analysis: Data for the years before Capitol View received its award were not available for analysis. Later, the school had statistically unlikely increases — until the cheating investigation began.
Venetian Hills Elementary, 2007
“In 2006,” the school said in its application, “we received accolades from the district superintendent for meeting 100 percent of our academic targets ... for the 2005-06 school year.” Venetian Hills also said it used practice exams in “the same format” as actual state tests.
• State investigation: Cheating occurred each year from 2004 through 2009. Five teachers confessed to changing students' answers, as did the testing coordinator, who said principal Clarietta Davis wore gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints while erasing incorrect answers. She denied cheating.
• AJC analysis: Scores in numerous classes rose to a suspicious extent in 2005 and 2006.
F.L. Stanton Elementary, 2008
“Each classroom at F.L. Stanton School functions as a locomotive destined for success,” the school’s Blue Ribbon application said, and “teachers serve as conductors guiding students toward the goal of academic improvement.” From 2004 to 2007, the proportion of students passing some tests increased by more than 60 percentage points.
• State investigation: "Cheating on a broad scale" occurred at Stanton, investigators said. In 19 classrooms, the odds of students making so many wrong-to-right erasures were less than 1 in a trillion. One teacher confessed to cheating; others said principal Marlo Barber changed test papers. She has not commented on the allegation.
• AJC analysis: A majority of Stanton's classes made statistically improbable gains on state exams in 2007, a year before it won the Blue Ribbon award.
Woodson Elementary, 2009
Nearly twice as many fifth-graders passed the state reading test in 2008 as in 2004. Woodson’s Blue Ribbon application credited principal Viola Blackshear, describing her as the “glue” for the school’s improvement efforts.
• State investigation: Teachers used "non-verbal signals" to help students during testing and "strategically seated students so they could cheat off of each other," investigators said. Blackshear was under pressure to meet district targets and, in turn, pushed teachers for higher scores; she declined to address the allegations.
• AJC analysis: Half of Woodson's classes posted statistically improbable score increases in the four years before its award.
Others
Another Atlanta school – Morris Brandon Elementary – won a Blue Ribbon award in 2003. State investigators found no evidence of cheating there, and the AJC’s analysis detected no irregularities. Thirty-five other private and public schools in metro Atlanta have won Blue Ribbon awards in the past 10 years.
