Dive Brief:

• The Arizona education department is seeking a test cheating investigation from the state's Attorney General's Office.
• The department says seven schools in Tucson, Tempe, and Phoenix had an unusual amount of answers erased and corrected.
• In addition to requesting an investigation, the state education department reportedly invalidated numerous 2014 exams from the schools.

Dive Insight:

While the department has requested the investigation, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas has indicated that no student, teacher, or administrator is currently being accused of questionably changing answers.

The recent trial around the Atlanta cheating scandal has likely created a larger awareness of large-scale cheating at schools and the need to investigate potential wrongdoing. That said, as was the case with Atlanta, the questions surrounding why schools would cheat also makes some wonder if the current high-stakes approach to testing and evaluations should be reevaluated.