Watch: Former Atlanta schools chief: ‘I can’t make you cheat’

In her first official television interview since investigators uncovered one of the largest cheating scandals in public school history, former Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Beverly Hall said she takes responsibility for not recognizing the need for heightened test security, but doesn’t acknowledge personal accountability for the individual cheating teachers or the scandal as a whole, NBC reports.

“I can’t make you cheat. Nothing that I could ask of you … would be an excuse for you to cheat,” Hall told NBC’s Harry Smith on Rock Center. “We did not emphasize testing at the expense of integrity.”

Over the summer, findings from a two-year investigation found widespread cheating among at least 44 Atlanta schools and implicated 178 educators involved in test tampering, including erasing students’ incorrect answers on standardized tests and replacing them with correct ones……Read More

Accused Atlanta schools officials want erasure analysis tossed

The lawyer for four high-ranking Atlanta Public Schools officials told Channel 2 Action News he will ask a judge to throw out an erasure analysis that is key to many of the allegations against his clients in the CRCT cheating scandal, WSBTV reports. Attorney George Lawson represents SRT Executive Directors Tamara Cotman, Dr. Sharon Davis-Williams, Dr. Robin Hall and Michael Pitts. Lawson spoke exclusively to Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne about why he alleges the erasure analysis is flawed and should not be used against his clients…

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Atlanta schools online job fair seeks to fill spots vacated by teachers implicated in cheating scandal

In an attempt to fill teaching positions still left open by teachers implicated in Atlanta’s widespread cheating scandal, Atlanta Public Schools is hosting an “online job fair” to recruit educators through the end of the month, the Huffington Post reports. When APS reopened for the new school year last month, more than 130 of the 178 educators implicated in cheating allegations were placed on paid leave while the others quit or retired. The school system quickly hired 109 new employees to replace those who have left vacancies, but not all are teachers, WSB-TV reported…

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