As scandals involving teachers and administrators fudging grades to make their students and themselves look better pop up nationally, New York state’s Education Department yesterday announced the creation of a “high-level” working group to investigate new measures to combat such cheating.

Oddly, the announcement came two weeks after the formation of the group, and department officials couldn’t say who or how many people were on it other than Executive Deputy Commissioner Valerie Grey.

Education Commissioner John King will announce proposals to strengthen the testing system’s integrity before the start of the school year, officials said.

“This is a knee-jerk reaction to cheating scandals in other states,” said one aide to Mayor Bloomberg.