11 Atlanta teachers face jail for presenting false student scores

onnaedo

April 2, 2015 11:13 AM

The mass cheating scheme was revealed after a local paper reported that some of the scores were statistically unlikely.

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11 teachers in Atlanta face jail time after being convicted for their involvement in a scheme to falsify student test scores.

According to BBC, they changed wrong answers to demonstrate student progress, while some received performance-related bonuses.

The episode which has been described as one of the biggest ever cheating scandals in the US, has seen 11 teachers guilty of racketeering and could face lengthy prison terms, while a 12th has been acquitted.

35 people were originally charged in 2013, with many pleading guilty and some testifying at the trial, while scores more were implicated.

According to Jackie Parks, a former teacher who was a witness for the prosecution:

"The cheating had been going on so long, we considered it part of our jobs"

Meanwhile, the school system's superintendent, Beverly Hall, who was named Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators for her district's dramatic improvements, died last month of breast cancer.

Hall, who was accused of pressuring the teachers to show improvements in scores insisted she was innocent in the cheating scandal and never appeared at the trial after arguing she was too sick.

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