“An investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation released in July 2011 found that 44 out of 56 public schools cheated on the 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests. 178 teachers and principals were found to have fixed incorrect answers entered by students. The size of the scandal has been described as one of the largest in United States history”

Couple that with actual conditions in those schools, and you have the perfect storm:
Essay by a teacher in a black high school.

“The mainstream press gives a hint of what conditions are like in black schools, but only a hint. Expressions journalists use like chaotic, or poor learning environment, or lack of discipline, do not capture what really happens.”