An elementary school principal in suburban Atlanta has resigned and the school’s assistant principal has been reassigned because they changed answers on 5th grade standardized tests to improve scores and help the school meet federal achievement standards, officials said June 11.
An investigation determined Atherton Elementary School Principal James Berry and Assistant Principal Doretha Alexander had altered answers on last summer’s state math tests, said Chief Deputy Superintendent Robert Moseley of the DeKalb County, Ga., school system. The state said last week that scores at four schools in the DeKalb County, Fulton County, Glynn County, and Atlanta districts had been changed.
An analysis of answer sheets showed as many as 40 erasures on some tests, compared with the average of two per student on tests that were not altered, said Kathleen Mathers, the head of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement.
