A Hamilton County teacher investigated in a possible state exam cheating case has been cleared by state and local officials.
Tosha Shotwell-Bonds was under investigation after she called a teacher acquaintance in Memphis to get advice while preparing her daughter for a state writing test. Shotwell-Bonds said she wasn’t looking for answers but was just trying to ensure that her daughter did well on the exam.
Investigators with the Tennessee Department of Education could not prove any wrongdoing and have cleared Shotwell-Bonds and the Memphis teacher, officials said. The state could have pursued revoking the licenses of the teachers if evidence of cheating had been uncovered.
Since widespread cheating cases were reported in school systems like Atlanta Public Schools, many states have tightened testing security and enacted cheating safeguards. Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, state exams were given heightened importance, as test results were used to hold schools accountable. Several states, including Tennessee, have made recent moves to incorporate test data into teacher evaluations.
The Tennessee Department of Education investigated 22 testing breaches between 2008 and 2011, records show. Several teachers resigned or were suspended in the wake of those investigations.