By The Associated Press | Posted - May 25, 2016 at 7:40 a.m.

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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Lawanda Tyler-Jones, the Clarksdale principal accused of directing teachers to cheat on standardized exams, told a state education official that a dramatic increase on test scores was due to prayer.

The Clarion-Ledger reports (http://on.thec-l.com/1szI2GQ) testimony continued Tuesday in Tyler-Jones' disciplinary hearing with Walt Drane, Mississippi Department of Education's executive director of student assessment and accountability. His office bears most of the responsibility of investigating testing irregularities.

Drane said Tyler-Jones indicated during an interview that she anointed the desks, the pencils, the doorways and also the students' heads with holy water.

Several Heidelberg Elementary School educators, including Francis Smith-Kemp, who surrendered her license in connection with the cheating scandal, told Drane that Tyler-Jones had instructed them to coach students and change their responses during testing.

Dennis Maynes, a data analyst for Caveon Test Security, testified that he examined test data and found that the same students from Heidelberg scored lower than expected and made fewer wrong-to-right erasures a year later when they attended school at Oakhurst.

According to Drane's testimony, MDE has paid Caveon Test Security and Caveon Investigative Services $246,000 in connection with the Clarksdale Municipal School District investigation.

MDE's initial review of Heidelberg's scores found students answered an extreme number of questions in the same way, and the agency requested the district conduct its own investigation into the matter.

Superintendent Dennis Dupree conducted the investigation, which found no testing violations had occurred, and during that time, Tyler-Jones provided a statement that said the campus followed testing procedures and she didn't receive reports of violations.

When Tyler-Jones' attorney, Lisa Ross, asked Drane if he "sat on the information" without acting on it, he said that his office had taken Dupree's investigation at face value.

"This instance was the first time, to my knowledge, that the state's ever been involved in anything that was so systemic," Drane said. ". A lot of times, internal investigations produce evidence against an educator, and we'll have hearings like we're having today, and we'll take people's licenses and drive on. I've never been involved in a case where a superintendent lied before on affidavits."

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Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com

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