Randi Weingarten, Teachers Union Head, Sounds Off On Atlanta Cheating Scandal
The Huffington Post | By William McGuinness - Posted: 04/02/2013 7:18 pm EDT
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, in a March 25, 2009, file photo.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, blamed "test-crazed" education policies in sharp comments released Tuesday regarding a massive standardized-test cheating scandal in Atlanta.
A 65-count indictment, announced by prosecutors Friday, alleges that more than 35 educators were involved in a conspiracy to inflate students' test scores within Atlanta Public Schools.
In a joint statement Tuesday, Weingarten and Verdaillia Turner, president of the Georgia Federation of Teachers, declared, "Standardized tests have a role in accountability, but today they dominate everything else and too often don’t even correlate to what students need to know to succeed." They added that school districts in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere have put "enormous pressure" on teachers to improve scores.
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