Cleveland Schools CEO: If We Were Cheating, Our Scores Would Be Better

Scott Shaw / Cleveland Plain Dealer

Cleveland school district CEO Eric Gordon talks to high school students in November 2011.

It’s only Monday, but we’re predicting the award for Quote of the Week will go to Cleveland school district CEO Eric Gordon.

Gordon talked to the Dayton Daily News about the findings of an Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Dayton Daily News investigation that suggested sharp changes in test scores from year to year at some Ohio schools could mean students or staff were cheating. The Daily News did not prove cheating has occurred in Ohio schools and did not name any schools or districts they suspected of cheating.

But their investigation did yield this candid quote from Gordon, who leads a school district that, unfortunately, has not seen sharp upwards trends in its test scores:

Cleveland Metropolitan Schools Chief Executive Eric Gordon isn’t happy with his district’s scores, which are among the worst in the state, but that has little to do with a concern over cheating. “In all candor, if I thought we had a widespread cheating problem in the district, I would expect our achievement to look quite a bit better than it does,” Gordon said.