Pa. Education Officials Apologize for Cheating Probe

State education officials have apologized to a Pennsylvania school district that was cleared in a cheating probe.

The state Department of Education said last week in announcing the results of the annual Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests that Bethlehem Area School District would be subject to increased monitoring after an investigation into its test scores was closed.

District officials complained the state unfairly suggested teachers had changed students' answers despite an investigation concluding the high number of wrong-to-right erasures were because of over-proctoring.

The education department says Bethlehem will not be subject to enhanced monitoring.

Education Secretary Ron Tomalis attributed falling PSSA scores to enhanced test security measures to prevent adults from altering student answers. But educators blame falling scores on hefty budget cuts and teacher layoffs.