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Educators were removed from 13 DeKalb County schools last week as the result of an internal investigation into cheating on the April 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT).

The 24 employees reassigned to duties outside of school all were principals, assistant principals or teachers. Their teaching certificates are being reviewed by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission.

The school system released the names of the schools after an open records request by The Champion. The schools involved are: Cedar Grove, Stoneview, Medlock, Woodridge, Glen Haven, Woodward, Rainbow, Shadow Rock, Avondale and Oakview elementary schools, and Cedar Grove, Tucker and Salem middle schools.

Four educators have been reassigned from both Stoneview and Woodbridge elementary schools. Three were reassigned from Cedar Grove Elementary and two each from Cedar Grove Middle and Rainbow Elementary. One educator was reassigned from each of the remaining schools.

The reassigned educators will be replaced by substitutes or by bringing back retired employees to finish the 2010-11 school year at a total cost of approximately $500,000, DeKalb Schools spokesman Walter Woods said.

The county investigation was prompted by analysis of erasures on CRCT answer sheets by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. The statewide analysis of the CRCT scores showed that there were an unusually high number of wrong answers changed to right, including in DeKalb County.

The school system’s investigation is being reviewed by the DeKalb County District Attorney to determine if any charges should be filed.