CRCT Investigation Report: Usher/Collier Heights Elementary School | Schools

Usher Elementary School
631 Harwell Road NW
Principal: Gwendolyn Rogers
Testing Coordinator: Donald Bullock
SRT-4 Executive Director: Tamara Cotman

ATLANTA -- Nearly 80 percent of Usher/Collier Heights Elementary School's classrooms were flagged for cheating on the 2009 CRCT, according to a state report released Tuesday.

Special investigators first appointed by Gov. Sonny Perdue found "Testing Coordinator Donald Bullock and numerous teachers participated in coordinated, schoolwide cheating." The state report said Bullock would approach teachers and ask them how their students did on the CRCT. "He then asked the teachers whether they needed to 'review' the students' tests to make sure the students performed well and met targets."

Three teachers admitted to cheating at Bullock's instruction in the report.

In sworn testimony, teachers said they were also pressured by Principal Gwendolyn Rogers. According to the report, "She stated to the staff: 'If Johnny does not know how to read, he had better know how on test day.'" Teachers also told investigators they were threatened with being put on a Professional Development Plan if their students didn't have good CRCT scores.

Both Bullock and Rogers have denied cheating.

In 30 of the school's 40 flagged classrooms, the chances of answers being changed without adult intervention were less than one in a trillion.

Rogers is no longer the principal at Usher/Collier Heights. Debra Dixon was named interim principal in 2010. She has been accused of cheating on the 2009 CRCT at Woodson Elementary School, but denies any involvement.

Read the full investigation here
Atlanta Public Schools CRCT Investigation