More than half the districts and charter schools identified by the Pennsylvania education department for possible cheating on 2009 state exams have been cleared of wrongdoing, state officials said last week.
Statewide, 22 districts and six charter schools were informed they were “cleared of improprieties” regarding the 2009 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, department spokesman Tim Eller said.
Thirteen Philadelphia schools, plus five others elsewhere in the state that were red-flagged for possible cheating, have not been cleared, but the investigation continues, Mr. Eller said.
Several suburban districts and city charter schools have been cleared.
State education Secretary Ronald Tomalis ordered the probe of 38 districts and 10 charter schools over the summer after a long-buried report was discovered that singled out schools with statistically improbable scores.
