New York Times: CRCT investigation ‘largely vindicates schools’

The New York Times‘ Shaila Dewan reported Monday that Atlanta Public Schools was “substantially vindicated” in the Blue Ribbon Commission’s investigation into CRCT test-answer irregularities. The New York Times‘ article was the most substatial coverage provided by the national media.

Here’s an excerpt from the piece …

But the deeper investigation, by an independent commission using a national firm that specializes in rooting out cheating, found no evidence of “any district-wide or centrally coordinated effort to manipulate” test scores, and no direct evidence of cheating. Still, Beverly Hall, the superintendent, and LaChandra Butler Burks, the chairwoman of the school board, said no cheating would be tolerated in the system, and Ms. Burks apologized to students and parents.

The testing firm, Caveon, found that, based on analysis of answer forms that focused on how many times students erased wrong answers to make them right, more than half the 58 schools did not show significant anomalies. Twelve schools had statistical evidence of a schoolwide problem. Thirteen schools showed irregularities in specific classrooms or grades.