The CRCT is a standardized assessment administered to students in grades 1-8 in Georgia. It is designed to measure how well students at each grade level have acquired the knowledge and skills within the state's curriculum.

The analysis indicates that some classrooms show an unusually high number of wrong answers changed to right answers: 4% of Georgia's elementary and middle schools fell into the "Severe concern" category.

System Name	School Name	% of Classes Flagged WTR
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS	PARKS MIDDLE	89.50%
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS	GIDEONS ELEME	88.40%
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS	PEYTON FOREST	86.10%
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS	F L STANTON	83.30%
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS	USHER ELEMENT	78.40%
DOUGHERTY COUNTY	WEST TOWN ELE	77.20%
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS	VENETIAN HILL	75.40%

System Name	School Name	Total Classes	Total Classes Flagged	Percent Flagged
OGLETHORPE COUNTY	OGLETHORPE MI	9	4	44.4%
CLINCH COUNTY	FARGO CHARTER	9	3	33.3%
DEKALB COUNTY	DEKALB SCHOOL	3	1	33.3%
RICHMOND COUNTY	AUGUSTA A AN	3	1	33.3%
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOO	WEST MANOR EL	45	13	28.9%
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOO	PEYTON FOREST	69	18	26.1%
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOO	GIDEONS ELEME	72	18	25.0%
GLYNN COUNTY	MORNINGSTAR T	12	3	25.0%
MUSCOGEE COUNTY	BAKER MIDDLE	60	15	25.0%
CLAYTON COUNTY	LEE STREET EL	78	19	24.4%
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOO	WHITE ELEMENT	48	11	22.9%
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOO	DUNBAR ELEMEN	36	8	22.2%
FULTON COUNTY	RIVER TRAIL M	9	2	22.2%
DEKALB COUNTY	INTERNATIONAL	39	8	20.5%

• We found cheating in 44 of the 56 schools we examined (78.6%). There were 38 principals of those 56 schools (67.9%) found to be responsible for, or directly involved in, cheating.
• We determined that 178 teachers and principals in the Atlanta Public Schools System cheated. Of the 178, 82 confessed to this misconduct. Six principals refused to answer our questions, and pled the Fifth Amendment, which, under civil law is an implied admission of wrongdoing. These principals, and 32 more, either were involved with, or should have known that, there was test cheating in their schools.
• We empathize with those educators who felt they were pressured to cheat and commend those who were willing to tell us the truth regarding their misconduct. However, this report is not meant to excuse their ethical failings, or exonerate them from their wrongdoings.
• Cheating was caused by a number of factors but primarily by the pressure to meet targets in the data-driven environment.
• There was a major failure of leadership throughout APS with regard to the ethical administration of the 2009 CRCT.
• A culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation existed in APS, which created a conspiracy of silence and deniability with respect to standardized test misconduct.

• Hall's attorney, Richard Deane, told the Associated Press in a written statement that "Dr. Hall steadfastly denies that she, her staff, or the vast majority of APS teaching and administrative professionals knew or should have known of any allegedly widespread cheating," He also wrote that Hall "further denies any other allegations of knowing and deliberate wrongdoing on her part or on the part of her senior staff, whether during the course of the investigation or before the investigation began."
• In 2009, [Hall] was honored by the American Association of School Administrators as superintendent of the year.
• "These people are not going to be put in front of children again," [interim Superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr.] said. "I don't know what makes people cheat, but it is not pressure to perform that does that."

• "Without question, cheating occurred in [Atlanta Public Schools] on the CRCT in 2009 and previous years. The erasure analysis is no longer a mere red flag, but is supported by confessions and other evidence of cheating in 78.6 percent of the elementary and middle schools we investigated."
• at Parks Middle School: Dr. Alfred Kiel was the testing coordinator for this school. He would not allow cheating so Principal [Christopher] Waller orchestrated Kiel's absence from the school building so the cheating could take place.
  
  On one occasion in 2009, Principal Waller took Kiel out for a "retirement lunch." In another year, Principal Waller scheduled an impromptu after-school dance so that the teachers could stay late in the aftemoon and cheat without raising suspicion. Kiel once noticed that things in his office had been disturbed while he was out and became angry. After that occasion, teacher Damany Lewis took pictures of Kiel's office before he altered the tests so that everything would be put back in exactly the same place so as not to raise Kiel's suspicions.

• Teachers and principals erased and corrected mistakes on students' answer sheets.
• Area superintendents silenced whistle-blowers and rewarded subordinates who met academic goals by any means possible.
• Superintendent Beverly Hall and her top aides ignored, buried, destroyed or altered complaints about misconduct, claimed ignorance of wrongdoing and accused naysayers of failing to believe in poor children's ability to learn.
• "APS is run like the mob," one teacher told investigators, saying she cheated because she feared retaliation if she didn't
• ... Hall's chief Human Resources officer Millicent Few "illegally ordered" the destruction of early, damning drafts of an outside lawyer's investigation of test-tampering at Atlanta's Deerwood Academy, ...
• Lying to investigators and destroying or altering public records are felonies under Georgia law with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
• Principal Clarietta Davis, a testing coordinator told investigators, wore gloves while erasing to avoid leaving fingerprints on answer sheets.
• At Kennedy Middle, children who couldn't read not only passed the state reading test, but scored at the highest level possible.
• three key reasons that cheating flourished in Atlanta:
  1. The district set unrealistic test-score goals, or "targets,"
  2. a culture of pressure and retaliation spread throughout the district, and
  3. Hall emphasized test results and public praise at the expense of ethics.

• 1. Invalidate the 2008 5th grade CRCT retest scores for Atherton Elementary, Deerwood Academy, Parklane Elementary, and Burroughs-Molette Elementary.
• 2. Reinstate the spring AYP determinations of "did not make AYP" for Atherton Elementary, Deerwood Academy, Parklane Elementary, and Burroughs-Molette Elementary.
• 3. Require that formal consequences for Atherton Elementary, Deerwood Academy, Parklane Elementary, and Burroughs-Molette Elementary follow from July 2008 accountability determinations to July 2009 determinations.
• 4. Require the four school systems to send a first class letter to parents or guardians of affected retested 5th grade students to inform them of the audit findings.
• 5. Require the receiving middle schools in the four school systems to design and follow an individual support plan for students affected by the testing violations who continue to struggle with mathematics.

Dr. Beverly Hall, 2009 National Superintendent of the Year, "To the extent that I failed to take measures that would have prevented what the investigators have disclosed, I am accountable, as head of the school system, for failing to act accordingly. I sincerely apologize to the people of Atlanta and their children for any shortcomings. If I did anything that gave teachers the impression I was unapproachable and unresponsive to their concerns, I also apologize for that. Where people consciously chose to cheat, however, the moral responsibility must lie with them.

I do not apologize for the reforms my staff and I implemented. The public has a right to hold educators and administrators accountable if they fail to teach children what they need to learn.

• Volume 1 Special Investigation Report - CRCT Cheating at APS
• Volume2 Special Investigation Report - CRCT Cheating at APS
• Volume3 Special Investigation Report - CRCT Cheating at APS