Fallout of Pa. cheating scandal continues with charges against two Philly principals — NewsWorks
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Early in the morning, before anyone else arrived, former Communications Technical High School principal Barbara McCreery would sit in her office and redo some of her students' standardized test booklets – 15 at a time, she admits, with an answer key in hand.
McCreery details that routine in a grand jury report released this week by Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, as she and former Bok Technical High School principal Arthur "Larry" Melton were arrested on charges of forgery and tampering with public records.
Bok and Comm Tech are among 11 tier one schools (most egregious evidence of wrongdoing) under state investigation. A 2011 state forensic analysis found evidence of an improbably high number of wrong-to-right erasures on tests at 89 schools statewide.
In separate reports, both principals said schools were under intense pressure to raise scores following federal, state and district edicts that ramped up accountability measures. McCreery called the expectations "unrealistic."
Schools that didn't meet testing goals would be in danger of closure.
CONTINUE via www.newsworks.org