Tuesday, August 9, 2011

CNN: Cheating report confirms teacher's suspicions

 Atlanta (CNN) -- Julie Rogers-Martin had started to doubt her teaching skills.
...Beverly Hall, who was Atlanta superintendent during the years the alleged cheating occurred, has retired. She has repeatedly denied any direct knowledge of wrongdoing.
But Rogers-Martin knew none of this in 2007. She only saw a growing gap between her students' standardized test scores and those of some of her colleagues -- leading her to doubt her teaching skills.
Eventually, however, she began to suspect that something else was at work. Though she says administrators ignored her suspicions when she raised them, Rogers-Martin eventually got a chance to tell state investigators what she saw. (Rogers-Martin is named as a witness in the governor's report but not implicated in any cheating.)
Teaching second, fourth and fifth grades, she noticed inconsistencies between her students' abilities and their previous year's standardized test scores.
Some children with the highest rating on the previous year's test -- "exceeding expectations" -- arrived in her class completely unprepared for the coursework.
She started asking questions: How is this child "exceeding expectations" on last year's test "when they can't read and they can't count?" she asked her principal.
"Oh, I guess they are just a great guesser," Rogers-Martin says the principal told her...

1 comment:

  1. HARVARD URBAN SUPERINTENDENTS PROGRAM

    Urban Superintendents Program
    USP Advisory Panel

    Arlene Ackerman
    Superintendent
    School District of Philadelphia
    http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/

    Andres Alonso
    Chief Executive Officer
    Baltimore City Public Schools
    http://www.bcps.k12.md.us/

    Yvonne Brandon
    Superintendent
    Richmond County Public Schools
    http://www.richmond.k12.va.us/

    John Deasy
    Deputy Director of Education
    Gates Foundation
    http://www.gatesfoundation.org/

    Michael Casserly
    Executive Director
    Council Great City Schools
    http://www.cgcs.org/

    Meria Carstarphen
    Superintendent
    Austin Independent School District
    http://www.austin.isd.tenet.edu/

    Carl Cohn
    Retired Superintendent
    San Diego Unified School District
    http://sandi.net/

    Rudolph Crew
    Retired Superintendent
    Miami-Dade County Public Schools
    http://www.dadeschools.net/

    Beverly Hall, Chair
    Superintendent
    Atlanta Public Schools
    http://www.atlanta.k12.ga.us/

    Carol Johnson
    Superintendent
    Boston Public Schools
    http://www.boston.k12.ma.us/

    Thomas Payzant
    Retired Superintendent
    Senior Lecturer on Education
    Harvard Graduate School of Education
    http://www.gse.harvard.edu/faculty_research/profiles/profile.shtml?vperson_id=215

    George Russell
    Superintendent
    Eugene School District 4J
    http://www.4j.lane.edu/

    Joshua Starr
    Superintendent
    Stamford Public Schools
    http://stamfordpublicschools.org/

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