by Vivian Kuo, CNN

Atlanta (CNN) – Investigators say nearly 50 schoolteachers and administrators inGeorgia's Dougherty County School System have participated in "criminal conduct and wrongdoing" in influencing results of standardized exams.

The discovery comes in a new report released Tuesday by members of a special task force appointed by former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue to look into suspiciously high scores on the exams, called the Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT), a multiple-choice test given annually to all public school students in the state.

"Hundreds of schoolchildren were harmed by extensive cheating in the Dougherty County School System. In 11 schools, 18 educators admitted to cheating," members of the task force said in the report. "We found cheating on the 2009 CRCT in all of the schools we examined. A total of 49 educators were involved in some form of misconduct or failure to perform their duty with regard to this test."

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal called the findings alarming.
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