Over the next few days, I am going to write a series of posts on the “Atlanta Test Erasure Scandal” that has dominated the newspapers here in Atlanta, and has been a major story on the national scene.  There is more than meets the eye here, and I hope to shed some light on it, and also point you to key data, and reports for your inspection.

Atlanta, the Capital City of Georgia

An investigation into the Atlanta Public Schools has caught the attention of the Nation. The investigation was prompted by a report published by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution that there was evidence of large-scale test tampering on the CRCT Tests in Atlanta’s schools.

After the Journal’s report, and after an audit was conducted by the Office of Student Achievement of possible test tampering, Governor Purdue appointed Michael J. Bowers and Robert E. Wilson as special investigators into possible test tampering in the Atlanta and Daugherty County Schools.  The audit by the Office of Student Achievement lists every school in the state by school district, and identifies the % of classes flagged flagged in that school.  About 4% of all Georgia schools were flagged as having an unusual number of erasers on student tests.  You can find this report here, but you’ll have to scroll down a bit to find the chart.

The report, which took months to complete, was delivered to Governor Deal on June 30, 2011, and was released to the public at a press conference by Deal. You can download the report here: part 1, part 2, part 3.

Disclaimer: I was a professor of science education for 32 years (1969 – 2003, and during that period was invoved in many training, research and public service activities in the Atlanta schools in my official capacity as professor at Georgia State University. Many of my students were science teachers in the Atlanta Public Schools. In this period I spent hundreds of hours in teacher’s classrooms, and developed professional relationships with teachers and administrators throughout the district. I write this report after having reading the full report and within the context of a former colleague, teacher educator, and researcher.

The High-Stakes Environment & Its Impact on Learning and Teaching

Has high-stakes testing created a culture of fear, not only in Atlanta, but in other districts in Georgia, and indeed around the country?  This is a key question, and from what we have heard the Governor say publicly, it may have contributed to the scandal in Atlanta.  The Governor stated that in Atlanta the pressure to reach “targets” of performance by students took over, and teachers and administrators bowed to the pressure to reach these targets, and by any means.  The targets, by the way, are the “standards” that the state established, and students take tests once per year to determine if the targets were reached.

Changing student responses to questions on the CRCT might be one way to make sure that targets are met.  But at whose expense?

The situation in Atlanta puts many constituencies at risk, not just the school system, the former superintendent, administrators, and teachers.  It also calls into question  the state and federal manifestations of creating a one-size-fits-all system of education driven by standards, and achievement tests.  For example the state of Georgia received a 500 million grant from the Race to the Top Fund this year, and one of stipulations of that program is that states, to receive the money, had to agree to use a new generation of standards, known as the Common Core Standards, and the tests that will be developed to measure student performance on these new standards.

States have already invested billions of dollars in standards and CRCT-type tests.  They are not going to given into a few who are calling for a different direction for school curriculum and assessment.

First we’ll take look at the context in which the scandal occurred, some comments and facts about Atlanta Public Schools, and then information about the CRCT in Georgia.

Atlanta: Context and Statistics

Atlanta is one of America’ great cities. It is populated with a diverse culture, major universities & colleges, a strong financial center, home to many major corporations, the center of professional sports in the South, as well high tech firms, manufacturing, the world’s busiest airport.

Atlanta has a population of 420,003, while the metro-Atlanta area has 5, 268,860 people.  The racial make-up of Atlanta is 54% African-American, 38.4% white, 3.1% Asian, 0.2% Native American, & 5.3% Hispanic or Latino.  Over the past ten years, the white population of Atlanta more than doubled, whereas the African-American population has been shrinking from 61.4% in 2000 to 54% in 2010.  Atlanta is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation (13th).  The flow of immigrants from Latin America to Atlanta has increased substantially bringing more diversity to the city.

Atlanta also has a very high concentration of diplomatic missions with 24 general consulates located in the city.  It is also sister city to 18 international cities around the world.

Atlanta has more than 30 institutions of higher education, including Georgia Tech, Emory University, Georgia State University,  Savannah College of Art and Design (Atlanta Campus), Mercer University, Atlanta University, comprising Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College,  & Spellman College.  Greater Atlanta contains other important colleges including Agnes Scott College, Oglethrope University, Kennesaw State University, and many others.

Atlanta School District

In 2005 the Atlanta School District participated in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) along with 9 other cities (Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Diego) in science.  Only public school students participated in the study at grades 4 and 8.   The percentage of minority students ranged from about 60 percent to more than 90 percent in the participating districts.  The percentage of students eligible for free lunch or reduced-price lunch ranged from 43 to 100 percent.

How did Atlanta fare in this study?

In the study, at the 4th grade level, the racial make-up of students was 83% African-American, 11% white, and 4% hispanic; at the 8th grade level, the racial make-up was 92%, 4%, and 3% respectively.  The large central city averages for racial make-up was 32% African-American, 21% white, 38% hispanic.

At the fourth grade level, Atlanta’s overall score on the science test was not significantly different from that in large central cities, but was lower than it was in the nation as a whole.  White students scored higher than those in large central cities and the nation.  African-American students had average scores that were not significantly different from those in large cities and the nation.  The score gap between white and Black students was 57 points, which was wider than the gap in other cities; between higher and lower-income students was 38, which was not significantly different from the gap in the large central cities, but wider than the gap in the nation.  At the 8th grade level, the results were similar to the 4th grade level.

In summary Atlanta had lower average scores than the nation, not significantly different than the overall average for large central cities, lower scores than Austin, Charlotte, Houston, & San Diego, not significantly different than New York, Boston & Cleveland, but higher scores than Chicago and Los Angeles.

You can see all of the results here.

The CRTC

The CRCT (Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests) were designed to measure how well students acquire the skills and knowledge described in the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS).   Students are assessed each year by means of a high-stakes test usually given in the Spring.  Individual scores are used to create school average scores and these averages are compared to the state of Georgia’s target or standard.

School learning is data driven in that each school is held accountable reaching a target (or standard) in each subject that is tested (Reading, Language Arts, Math, Science & Social Studies).  Scores are reported by the Department of Education in elaborate Excel formatted charts (which I am looking at on my computer screen right now).  I am looking at the scores reported for 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010).  You can by going here.  Here is a screen shot of just one part of one page of data—grade 8, CRCT data—2008.

Excel chart of a sample of data from the CRCT results, Grade 8, 2008

Here are the results (for the 8th grade) for the past five years in all of the areas that are tested in Georgia.

Historical Performance of Georgia Students on the CRCT, Grade 8Historical Performance of Georgia Students on the CRCT, Grade 8

Tomorrow, I’ll focus on the reports that were issued, and what they tell us about Atlanta Schools, and the State of Georgia, and its approach to learning and teaching.