Test Scandal in Atlanta Brings More Guilty Pleas; New York Times, 1/6/14

Kim Severson and Alan Blinder, New York Times; Test Scandal in Atlanta Brings More Guilty Pleas: "Dr. Hall, who for more than a decade had been celebrated as an erudite, data-driven superintendent of a once-failing urban school district that became a model of improvement, was at the center of the inquiry from the start. The report implicated at least 44 schools and 178 teachers and principals, and said cheating may have been going on for years. It was so pervasive that some administrators even held what investigators said were “erasing parties” to fix the tests. More than 80 of the educators confessed and many resigned. The investigation found that Dr. Hall and her administration “emphasized test results and public praise to the exclusion of integrity and ethics.” The result, it said, was a culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation that led to a conspiracy of silence."