More than half of the educators implicated in widespread test cheating in Atlanta Public Schools have been disciplined by the state, including 33 who had their teaching licenses revoked or suspended Thursday.
The Georgia Professional Standards Commission, which certifies and polices educators, has now punished 115 teachers and administrators for their role in the nation’s worst cheating scandal.
Another 67 still face discipline by the commission. But most if not all of those cases cannot go forward until the commission receives the results of an investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard into potential criminal wrongdoing, said Kelly Henson, commission executive secretary.
A spokeswoman for Howard’s office said Thursday that the investigation is ongoing. She said she could not comment further on the investigation.
Members of the standards commission voted Thursday to revoke the teaching certificates of 10 school-level administrators and testing coordinators. They suspended 22 teachers for two years, and one teacher for 90 days.
Henson said commission investigators could not prove the one teacher cheated, but believed there was ample evidence that the teacher at least failed to report cheating.
The harshest discipline an educator can face is to have his or her teaching certificate revoked, since without a certificate they cannot teach in Georgia.
Revocations are considered permanent, though after three years educators can appeal to the commission to regain their teaching certificates, Henson said.
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