GBI to probe Dougherty schools in cheating case

Gov. Sonny Perdue has ordered the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to assist a probe into possible cheating on standardized tests at schools in Doiugherty County and Atlanta.

Perdue ordered the agency today to assist in a special investigation now led by former state Attorney General Mike Bowers and ex-DeKalb County District Attorney Bob Wilson.

Perdue has said he is unhappy with what he called “inadequate probes” conducted by the  Dougherty County and Atlanta school systems school systems. The inquiries began after a statewide review showed an unusually high number of erasures on first- through eighth-grade standardized tests taken in spring 2009.

In Dougherty and Atlanta, standardized tests were monitored and test scores plummeted.