Former top state education official Kathleen Mathers will return to the witness stand Thursday for her third day of testimony in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating trial.
Mathers, once the executive director of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, has sat on the witness stand two full days. She has testified about her discovery of suspicious test score gains at Deerwood Academy in the summer of 2008, her decision to order a statewide erasure analysis on 2009 standardized tests and her recommendation that a special investigation be undertaken because of her dissatisfaction with a Blue Ribbon Commission’s investigation of test-cheating at APS.
Mathers’ testimony also showed why the end of the trial is nowhere in sight.
Lead prosecutor Fani Willis spent most of Tuesday leading Mathers through her direct testimony. Cross-examination began late Tuesday and continued through Wednesday with lawyers representing 11 of the 12 defendants asking Mathers questions. Willis then asked Mathers more questions and defense lawyers then conducted more cross-examinations.
When adjourning court for the day, Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter told Mathers she would have to return Thursday. Then, looking out to the lawyers, Baxter said, “Hopefully, we can see another witness at some point.”
It was anticipated that former Gov. Sonny Perdue would testify Wednesday, but now he isn’t expected to take the stand until next week.
Prosecutors have said they plan to rest their case sometime in January.
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