People love a good rant.
The one issued by an Atlanta judge last week has certainly made the rounds. Judge Jerry Baxter was all over CNN as he angrily sentenced teachers and administrators convicted in a widespread cheating scandal. He ordered some of the guilty educators to jail for seven years, a decision that sparked both cheers and cries of foul.
“This is not a victimless crime,” he said, noting the incredible audacity displayed. “These kids can’t read.”
Teachers had systematically erased incorrect answers on state-mandated tests and filled in correct answers. A principal wore gloves as she worked, so as not to leave any fingerprints. Those who tried to blow the whistle were reprimanded and ordered into silence by administrators. More than half a million dollars in bonuses were handed out during a decade, rewards for improvement on the tests.
That’s money that was gained at the expense of children’s futures.
The superintendent died of cancer before trial. She had been named the national superintendent of the year for 2009.
“All I want from any of these people is just to take some responsibility,” an exasperated Baxter said. “But they refuse. They refuse.”
The educators turned their backs on repeated offers of admitting some responsibility and accepting a plea deal.
The six-year scandal was triggered by the reporting of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which initially began questioning how test scores could have improved so greatly in some schools over a relatively short time. A state investigation followed, drawing conclusions that implicated nearly 180 teachers, administrators and testing officials. A grand jury indictment named 35 educators; nearly two dozen pleaded guilty, avoiding trial. Only one was acquitted.
Baxter pointed out the most salient issue.
“They are the most vulnerable children in our city, and they were short-changed,” he said, referring to the students whose tests were tampered with. “They were passed on and now they’re in the prison system.”
Baxter has sentenced no small number of Atlanta’s public school graduates who turned to crime, unprepared for the world of legitimate work.
Whose fault was it? Parents? The social and cultural isolation of poverty? Inadequate or dysfunctional social services agencies? Schools?
America has been trying to determine how to compensate for decades of denying poor children a proper public education. Vouchers were the vogue for a while. Now charter schools are looked to as saviors.
Yet the more we learn about how poor kids fare at school, the more we understand that their performance is greatly influenced by factors such as who their parents and peers are. Good teachers and pedagogical approaches can make a difference, but they can’t always overcome the disadvantage of a kid who was never read to, much less the daily struggles of being poor.
These kids have enough hurdles without educators piling on.
No question about it; these guilty parties robbed these children. Without a true assessment of their skills and talents, these children will suffer. That’s as good as stealing their dreams.
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