Metro

DOE cheater probe prospers

The investigative arm of the city’s Department of Education has confirmed 106 cases of cheating since high-stakes testing expanded to nearly all public- school grades in 2006, officials said yesterday.

That’s in response to 909 allegations of cheating that were reported to city officials in the past six years — a confirmation rate of about 11 percent.

A number of those investigations, whose results were obtained by The Post, found the cheating was isolated to specific classrooms.

A May 2010 probe found a teacher at the Bushwick Community HS in Brooklyn had clarified questions and provided students with definitions of words on the Living Environment Regents exam, and a February 2010 probe found a teacher at PS 127 in The Bronx had helped students with answers to the eighth-grade state math exams.

Other cases show department probes where the city’s Office of Special Investigations couldn’t finger a culprit but closed the inquests anyway.

The city has used test results and school ratings to award bonuses to principals and teachers, as well as to determine which schools should be shuttered.

yoav.gonen@nypost.com