A testing coordinator at an Atlanta school marked by widespread cheating should be fired, a tribunal ruled Monday.
During a nine-hour hearing, attorneys for Atlanta Public Schools argued that, at the least, Fran Standifer was negligent in failing to prevent cheating at East Lake Elementary School. At worst, they said, she participated in it.
The APS board will consider the tribunal's decision but will have final say.
In 2011, a state investigative report flagged 42 percent of East Lake classes for having an unusually high number of wrong-to-right erasures on Georgia's 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests. The report also pointed to school principal Gwendolyn Benton and testing coordinator Standifer as responsible for the discrepancies.
"Fran Standifer erased and changed students' answers on the ... CRCT," the report said.
Benton retired in 2010, while Standifer has fought the allegations.
Standifer's case is one of more than a dozen heard by a tribunal to determine whether cheating allegations merit firing.
The state report, triggered by reports in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about testing irregularities, also accused her of directly cheating on the school's fifth-grade writing test. According to the district, Standifer rearranged classroom seating so that low-performing fifth-grade students would receive easier essay questions.
Former East Lake teacher Rashida Davis, who has not been accused of wrongdoing, testified that she became suspicious when Standifer rearranged seating just before handing out writing exams.
"Ms. Standifer came in with the tests," Davis said. "She did not address me at all. She started rearranging the students. It kind of scared me."
Davis said it appeared that Standifer had arranged the class so only high-performing students would receive the more difficult essays. "I found it odd that certain students were paired with easier [essay assignments]," she said. "It seemed the students were rearranged so they could correlate with whatever writing topic they got."
Standifer's attorneys countered that Davis may have held a grudge against their client, who supervised some of Davis' classes. The attorneys introduced copies of letters Standifer sent to Davis, admonishing her for missteps as a teacher.
Standifer also testified, denying wrongdoing. Five character witnesses also spoke on her behalf.
Superintendent Errol Davis testified that he had lost confidence in Standifer's ability to continue in her position.
East Lake, which has closed down, was honored in 2010 for "national excellence" by the National Center for Urban School Transformation
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