Good evening.
It's bad enough when kids cheat in school to get ahead, but the teachers themselves?
Today in Atlanta nearly a dozen former educators were convicted on racketeering and other charges for their part in one of the nation's biggest cheating scandals.
Prosecutors say it was a massive conspiracy to make sure students passed standardized tests even if it meant giving kids the correct answers.
The scandal dates back a decade.
It involved dozens of schools.
And a lot of grown-ups apparently failed one of the lessons we were all taught.
NBC's chief education correspondent Rehema Ellis is on the story for us tonight.
It was a stunning verdict.
We the jury find the defendant guilty.
Former educators found guilty of racketeering in an unprecedented case of teachers and administrators charged with fixing test scores and changing answers on standardized tests.
We've been fighting for the children in our community, particularly those children who are deprived by this cheating scandal.
A major victory for the prosecution.
11 of the 12 defendants convicted on charges typically reserved for mobsters and organized crime.
This is the most appalling decisions I've ever seen.
I don't see how you send educators to prison.
The verdict came after months of testimony from more than 150 witnesses, students, teachers and parents about widespread manipulation of test scores while some teachers received bonuses to improve test results throughout the district.
The 16-year-old not shown because she's a minor, testified that a teacher instructed her to change her answers.
They would tell us to erase it and put their answer.
One former teacher describes a so-called cheating party at her home.
We were changing answers.
Yes.
The alleged ring leader, former superintendent Beverly Hall, was never tried.
She died of breast cancer last month and always maintained her innocence.
I'd like to leave it at that.
Sentencing is scheduled within the next two weeks.
The convicted face up to 20 years in prison.
I made myself clear from early on.
Late this afternoon judge Jerry Baxter denied the request for bail.
I have sat here for six months and listened to this whole thing.
They have made their bed.
And they're going to have to lie in it.
It starts today.
Teachers and administrators at 44 of 56 of Atlanta's schools were involved in the scandal.
Many say the victims here are the thousands of mostly black low-income students who are denied opportunity for remedial help because false test scores indicated they didn't need it.
Whole thing is done, isn't it.
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