In the Atlanta cheating scandal, standardized testing is the crime

(theGrio)  Hard prison time for cheating on an exam? Really? What do you do when the real crime is the exam itself?

Sparks are flying in Atlanta as public school teachers were convicted of racketeering in connection with the city’s huge testing scandal. Eight of the 10 teachers who were convicted of conspiring to inflate students’ standardized test scores received prison sentences of up to 7 years.

A state investigation had determined that 178 educators, including 38 principals, had participated. Ultimately, thirty-five educators were indicted, with twenty-one pleading guilty and 13 going to trial. Beverly Hall, the former superintendent who was indicted in the scandal, did not go to trial due to illness and recently died of breast cancer.