It's hard to believe reports on improvements at DC's Nalle Elementary School because of past test fraud (that went unpunished)

The Post reports ("Report offers case study of turnaround at JC Nalle Elementary in the District") on improvements at Nalle School.  From the article:

J.C. Nalle Elementary School was at risk of closure in 2011 because of low academic performance and flagging enrollment. Two years later, the school had the biggest math test score gains in D.C. Public Schools, with a 27 percent increase in proficiency rates.

A report released Wednesday by Child Trends, a Bethesda-based research center, found the improvement to be a result of a series of interventions that could be replicated in other schools.

“If you look at the research, there are plenty of school turnaround efforts that don’t work,” said Daniel Princiotta, principal research scientist for the study. He said the advance in math scores at J.C. Nalle was rapid and substantial.

But because of rampant test fraud during the reign of former Chancellor Michelle Rhee, it becomes difficult to believe any statement about systematic improvement in the schools.

The story of DC test fraud was broken by USA Today ("When standardized test scores soared in D.C., were the gains real?"), not the Washington Post, which mostly shilled for Rhee during her tenure here.  For the most part, there was no serious effort to root out fraud or penalize people who took part ("How they cheated on D.C. tests: Excerpts from new report," Post).

By contrast, in Atlanta, teachers and administrators were charged with fraud, convicted and are going to be jailed ("Atlanta Cheating Case Educators Urged to Accept Sentencing Deals." Wall Street Journal).