ATLANTA (AP) — Former Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly Hall says she “deeply” regrets not doing more to prevent cheating during her nearly 12 years in charge of the district.

In a column in trade publication Education Week on Wednesday, Hall says she should have had more test security to help prevent what investigators said was widespread cheating in nearly half of the district’s 100 schools as far back as 2001.

Hall defends standardized testing, which has come under scrutiny after cheating scandals erupted in Atlanta and other urban districts. She says the cheating scandal is “awful” but is not a reason to question testing of students or holding teachers accountable for scores.

Hall retired just days before state investigators in July released a scathing report implicating nearly 180 educators in the scandal.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.