(Image source: WSB)

BY TRACY PFEIFFER

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

You're watching multisource U.S. news analysis from Newsy.

An 800-page report from the Georgia governor’s office claims serious cheating has taken place in Atlanta Public Schools -- but it wasn’t the students.

ROBIN MEADE, ANCHOR:“By the teachers and administrators!” (HLN)

JOSH ELLIOTT, ANCHOR: “Teachers at the center of a massive cheating scandal in Atlanta.” (ABC)

REBEKKA SCHRAMM: ANCHOR: “178 educators, 38 of them school principals.” (WGCL)

The governor’s report claims teachers and administrators -- including former superintendent Beverly Hall -- either participated in, covered up, encouraged, or simply knew about efforts to raise district standardized test scores by changing student answers, allowing them to work in groups, or just giving them the answers. (Video: WSB)

“At one elementary school, according to the report, four educators gathered at a colleague’s home in Douglas county one weekend to have a quote- ‘changing party,’ using answer sheets to change students’ wrong answers to right.” (WGCL)

Atlanta’s high test scores have been under scrutiny for some time -- with media outlets like the Atlanta Journal Constitution raising red flags as early as 2008.

But the special report -- is the most damning investigation yet.

Atlanta’s WXIA breaks down the numbers.

“Out of the 56 Atlanta schools investigated, 44 were involved in cheating. That’s 80 percent of schools that administer the CRCT in Atlanta. 178 principals and teachers were involved, according to the report. 82 of them confessed.”

So they juked the stats -- what’s the problem? According to the report -- besides claims that some teachers were threatened and humiliated by their coworkers if they considered blowing the whistle -- bumping test scores has actually hurt the students behind the allegedly falsified numbers.

“Because test scores were inflated, thousands of children were denied the opportunity to receive tutoring that may have helped them do better in school.” (The Washington Post)

The New York Times spoke to a parent and former teacher who says -- this case is just another example of how the emphasis on standardized tests -- is hurting American students.

“It becomes a question of what it means to be educated... Does it mean the highest test score? I would argue it does not. This is part and parcel of a general dysfunction that isn’t particular to Atlanta public schools.”

Criticisms of test-centric education are nothing new - but of course, this goes beyond “teaching to the test.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, investigators emphasized three factors behind the cheating - and described it as a vicious cycle.

“The district set unrealistic test-score goals, or ‘targets,’ a culture of pressure and retaliation spread throughout the district, and Hall emphasized test results and public praise at the expense of ethics. Because the targets rose each time a school attained them, the pressure ratcheted up in classrooms each year. Cheating one year created a need for more cheating the next.”

APS’ interim superintendent has vowed those responsible will never teach again.

Meanwhile, reports say the investigation’s findings have been handed over to district attorneys. As of Wednesday morning, no word on arrests or charges filed.

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