Judge Sentences Nine Educators To Prison For Cheating Scandal

As Australia contends with the 'My Master' cheating scandal, we look to America where teachers and principals are paying the ultimate price for fixing grades.

Nine educators are headed to prison after being convicted of racketeering and inflating test scores in Atlanta.

The scandal that has rocked America began in 2008, when the test results of a dozen schools were found to be far higher than those of the previous year.

Twelve educators – ranging from teachers to test coordinators to school principals - stood trial for the cheating conspiracy, which was discovered to stretch back to 2001 and involved the fabrication of test answers. Twenty-one educators, also indicted, accepted plea deals that spared them from trial.

During the trial, it was revealed that "cheating parties" had been held in which the educators would jointly change test scores that had been transported in coolers. Gloves had been worn to avoid leaving fingerprints on the papers.

On Monday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter sentenced defendants Tamara Cotman, Sharon Davis Williams and Michael Pitts to 20 years in prison and 2000 hours of community service, while also instructing them to pay $25,000 fines. (They will only serve seven years of the sentence.)

Defendants Angela Williamson, Dana Evans, Tabeeka Jordan, Diane Buckner-Webb and Theresia Copeland received sentences of five years in prison (only serving one), including 1,000 to 1,500 hours of community service, and fines ranging from $1000 to $5000.

There are more. Donald Bullock and Pamela Cleveland accepted plea deals, receiving five years’ probation and one year’s home confinement, respectively. Another, Shani Robinson, gave birth on Saturday, and will not be sentenced until August. Defendant Dessa Curb was the only one of the twelve defendants to be acquitted of all charges.

Former Georgia attorney general Michael Bowers, who led an investigation in 2013, found that the cheating had been conducted to secure bonuses and enhance their careers of the educators, at the expense of the students.

The case has reignited the debate over education standards in America, the reliance on standardised testing, and the pressure on educators to reach specific grade averages, regardless of their students’ understanding of the subject.

However, as Judge Baxter expressed during sentencing, “There were thousands of children that were harmed in this thing. This was not a victimless crime that occurred in this city.”