July 9, 2009

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia could become the latest state to punish schools caught cheating on standardized tests.

The state Board of Education is set to vote Thursday on whether to void the test scores for four elementary schools and revoke their favorable standing on federal No Child Left Behind measurements. A state audit released last month shows someone changed students' answers on the math portion of the fifth-grade Criterion-Referenced Competency Test after the exams were turned in.

State data released Wednesday indicates the students whose tests are in question were not prepared for sixth-grade math, though the questionable tests showed them performing well on the fifth-grade test.

(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.)