REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio – An Ohio middle school teacher was investigated and eventually resigned for allegedly telling gifted students to play dumb on pretests that were tied to her evaluation.

Teachers in the Reynoldsburg school district are evaluated in part on how much their students improve on standardized tests over the course of the school year.

Reynoldsburg school officials contend teacher Heather Campbell, 39, told fifth- and sixth-grade students in her science class at Waggoner Road Junior High School to purposefully fail a pretest by drawing pictures for short answer response questions and urging them to use texting shorthand like IDK and LOL, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

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“… theoretically, she would have benefited because it would have been reflected in her scores” when students appeared to make substantial gains at the end of the year, superintendent Steve Dackin told the Dispatch.

District officials learned of Campbell’s alleged conduct last month when a parent called in to complain that their child was told to underperform on the science pretest. District investigators later learned the teacher allegedly told students to draw pictures of rocks or a cat in short answer question responses, to leave their work unchecked, and to skip questions they didn’t understand, the newspaper reports.

“Campbell reportedly told students she ‘would never tell them not to try hard again, only on this’ assignment. Instead, the students said, she told them they should do their best on the state achievement tests, investigators said,” according to the Dispatch.

“Also, she told students that if they got the questions right, she would not be allowed to teach that particular area of the course during the school year,” the newspaper reports.

As a result, the vast majority of student tests administered by Campbell were deemed “not sufficient attempts.” Campbell, in her second year at Reynoldsburg schools, denied the claims of misconduct, although she resigned her position.

“This is an issue of morality for me,” superintendent Dackin told the Dispatch. “You are charged with the most important job: to educate children. … It was an egregious violation of that ethical responsibility.”

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School officials wrapped up their investigation into Campbell last week and forwarded their findings to Ohio Department of Education’s Office of Professional Conduct, the newspaper reports.