A report from the federal Institute of Education Sciences has recommendations for preventing, detecting, and responding to cheating and other irregularities in computer-based and regular standardized tests.
The publication draws on information gathered after a request for information on best practices for testing integrity put out by the U.S. Department of Education, from a symposium on testing integrity held last year, and from other guidelines.
In the category of prevention, for example, the guidelines urge districts to develop a definition of cheating, to focus on high-risk threats such as sharing test items ahead of time, and to ensure that all students take the test at the same time or close to it, among other recommendations.