A week has passed since the filing of indictments against 35 former employees of our school system. The indictments were filed nearly two years since the release of a special state investigation into test tampering. In the time that has passed and the time ahead, our work in Atlanta Public Schools (APS) has been to focus keenly on student achievement and to restore honor and integrity to our school system – we are renewing our commitment to you!
At this point, we must treat these indictments as legal matters between the individuals implicated and the district attorney’s office.
Instead, our focus must remain where it should be – on children. We will strive to provide a quality education for all our students in every sector of this city. And, we will certainly support the more than 97 percent of individuals who were not implicated in the scandal.
Just as importantly, we will maintain the expectation that all employees conform to the highest ethical standards established in APS. During the past two years, we have taken the following actions to implement deep and enduring cultural change:
—Changed out over 60 percent of the principals
—Removed over 180 educators from their jobs
—Launched an academic remediation program for students who were denied support because their test scores were artificially inflated
—Developed a comprehensive ethics program, which mandated that every employee participate in annual ethics training as a condition of employment
—Deconstructed the office that handled employee investigations and gave it more autonomy and a direct line of accountability to the Atlanta Board of Education
—Set trigger points that will result in automatic investigations of schools where test scores show larger-than-normal year-over-year changes
—Continued to strengthen test security measures (e.g., locked safe rooms, tighter chains-of-custody, clearer test protocols) to prevent improprieties and tampering
Crises inspire strength and opportunity. The testing scandal has stimulated open and frequent conversations about ethics, which have now led to open and frequent conversations about academic equity and excellence in Atlanta. As a result, we have reorganized our entire system and launched a five-year strategic plan to change the delivery of public education services to our 50,000 students.
It is best for our students, parents, employees and community stakeholders to begin putting this troubling episode behind us. The travesty of the testing scandal is its impact on children who were initially denied additional learning support they may have needed. The other travesty is the dark cloud that has been cast over the truly wonderful teachers, academic leaders and support personnel who make up the overwhelming majority of our workforce.
Slightly more than 3,000 APS teachers and principals accept their profession as a calling, and understand that teaching is one of the most honorable jobs in the world. I have nothing but admiration for these professionals. They know that children succeed when the adults around them work hard, work together, and do so with integrity.
