Case Study Of The Atlanta Public School System Cheating Scandal

The darkest times in the city of Atlanta was the Atlanta Public School system cheating scandal. Mayor Kasim Reed stated “The cheating scandal marked one of the darkest periods in the life of our city.” (WXIA-TV, 2015) The cheating scandal was brought about due to pressure by administrators by fear and intimidation due to the No Child Left Behind Act. 178 different educators in 44 different elementary and middle schools were involved with the scandal. The educators used various methods to cheat. Most educators elected to resign or retire while some did elect to go to trial for the scandal. The court’s decision was the correct decision as the teachers were trying to make the school system look better to the federal government by cheating the system, but also cheating the students out of a proper education. The cheating scandal was brought about by different conditions. The teachers and test coordinators were forced to cheat due to fear and intimidation. The teachers were threatened that if they did not cheat or came forward to complain that they would lose their jobs. The fear and …show more content…
Most the involved parties were teachers as out of the 178 educators investigated 38 were principals. Eighty-two teachers confessed to cheating. Dobbs fourth grade teacher Schajuan Jones heard Shayla Smith say “I had to give your kids, or your students, the answers because they’re dumb as hell.” (Zhao) After the different educators either confessed, resigned or retired 35 educators were indicted of multiple charges but each one was charged with Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) conspiracy. With the group of 35 indicted includes Dr. Beverly Hall, four high-level executive administrators, six principals, two assistant principals, six test coordinators, fourteen teachers, one improvement specialist and a secretary. Each one of these educators took place in the cheating in one way or