11 Educators May Learn Fate in APS Cheating Scandal Next Week

The first 11 educators being investigated in the Atlanta Public Schools test cheating scandal may learn next week whether they will lose their professional certificates.

The Georgia Professional Standards Commission will hear evidence gathered by an agency investigation into 11 educators' cases in on Thursday, according to a report by WSBTV.com. The educators include a principal, teachers, and administrators.

These will be the first cases to be acted upon by the agency after the governor's report exposed a massive cheating scandal in the Atlanta Public School system.

"The standard of proof for the Professional Standards Commission is the preponderance of evidence as opposed to beyond a reasonable doubt," chief GPSC investigator John Grant told WSB.

According to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, investigators said they confirmed CRCT cheating in 44 of 56 schools they examined. Now, the Professional Standards Commission is reviewing nearly 200 cases connected to the cheating scandal.

If the probe confirms misconduct, the report states, the commission can impose sanctions including a two-year license suspension for teachers and permanent revocation of a principal’s certification.

The accused can then request a hearing before an administrative law judge, who would decide whether to uphold or reverse the commission’s decision.

Some APS employees could face more serious consequences, according to the AJC. A Fulton County grand jury also is investigating and could decide whether criminal charges are warranted in some cases.

The CRCT cheating scandal arguably more than any other area.

The three schools cited as having more classes flagged for cheating on the 2009 CRCT are in southwest Atlanta, an initial Cascade Patch review of an investigators' report has found.

According to an extensive state investigators' report, published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Parks Middle School, 1090 Windsor St., in the Pittsburgh community, led the state with 89.5% of classes at the school flagged for cheating on the state Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT).

Gideons Elementary, 897 Welch St., followed with 88.4% flagged and Peyton Forest Elementary School, 301 Peyton Rd., was third with 86.1%. The findings appear on page 22 of the 3-volume report by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement.