Assessment

Experts Outline Steps to Guard Against Cheating

By Christina A. Samuels — March 07, 2012 5 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

they really are,” she said. Baltimore has documented cheating at some of its schools, and the investigation started in part based on parent complaints, she said.

Schools and districts may not be able to stop all cheating on high-stakes tests, but they can devise better practices that allow them to detect suspicious results and thoroughly investigate them, according to experts at a federally hosted symposium here last week on testing integrity.

The sponsor of the event, the National Center for Education Statistics, does not have any direct authority over state testing, though it administers the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as “the nation’s report card,” noted NCES Commissioner Sean P. “Jack” Buckley.

The NAEP program has not been hit with cheating allegations, Mr. Buckley said, but state testing officials have been asking the U.S. Department of Education for help establishing guidelines to handle test investigations after a recent string of high-profile cases across the country of adults tampering with tests to boost their schools’ or districts’ scores.

Among the takeaways from the Feb. 28 event: Schools and districts must create a “culture of integrity” where cheating is known to be unacceptable; officials must cut back on test-tampering opportunities and incentives to cheat; and allegations should be investigated thoroughly, even if the details seem hazy.

“Follow up on gossip,” said Tisha S. Edwards, the chief of staff to Andrés A. Alonso, the chief executive officer of the 84,000-student Baltimore school district. Even conversations that aren’t directly about cheating—for example, a parent concerned that his or her child’s test scores seem improbably high—can be revealing. “People don’t know they’re reporting things when they really are,” she said. Baltimore has documented cheating at some of its schools, and the investigation started in part based on parent complaints, she said.

High-Profile Cases

One of the best-known recent cases of widespread test-cheating involved the 48,000-student Atlanta district, where 178 principals and teachers were accused of tampering with the 2009 state test after a Georgia state investigation last year. (“Test-Tampering Found Rampant in Atlanta System,” July 13, 2011.)

The same Georgia investigative team said that teachers and principals in the 16,000-student Dougherty County district, about 170 miles south of Atlanta, confessed to altering their students’ answer sheets the same year.

A probe conducted by the Baltimore district found that staff members at three elementary schools appeared to have altered student test booklets in 2008, 2009, and 2010. One of those schools had been praised as a Blue Ribbon School for academic excellence by the federal Education Department.

Last March, the newspaper USA Today printed an analysis of test scores in the District of Columbia, saying that more than half the schools in the 45,000-student system had been flagged by its testing contractor as having an unusually high number of wrong-to-right erasures. City and federal officials are currently investigating those allegations.

District of Columbia Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson, one of the symposium’s opening speakers, said she was one of the education leaders who went to the federal Education Department looking for help in how to investigate the cheating charges. Newspaper articles had accused the school system of doing only a cursory job of investigating itself, but she said the system brought in outside experts, interviewed school officials, probed every allegation, and punished or terminated employees who were found to have committed wrongdoing.

“At the same time, it was easy sport for the press to play the what-more-could-be-done game,” Ms. Henderson said.

Role of NCLB

Schools have been under pressure to raise their students’ test scores since the advent of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which requires states to set test-score improvement targets for schools and districts—and impose sanctions when they fall short. The Education Department is now considering waivers that would allow states to escape some sanctions associated with the NCLB law.

No one at the symposium suggested doing away with high-stakes tests. But Robert E. Wilson, a former county district attorney who oversaw the investigation in Atlanta, said that district’s former leaders created an atmosphere of intimidation in which high-performing principals were praised and received bonuses and those who did not meet standards faced humiliation and job loss.

“The end result was absolutely a disaster,” said Mr. Wilson. “You must set reasonable goals.”

Another way to cut back on cheating is to conduct spot checks on test days and to reduce the amount of time test booklets and answer sheets remain at a school, several panelists suggested. They also said teachers and administrators might need better training on appropriate test proctoring and administration.

Computerized Tests

The next frontier for testing, panelists said, will be widespread use of computer-based assessments. Computerized testing eliminates some cheating opportunities, such as lost or stolen test books or copying during the tests.

But it also opens up a new realm of concerns. For example, many schools don’t have enough computers to test all the students in one grade at the same time. Long testing windows make it easier for students to share answers with one another, and for teachers to see the questions and answers. Technology-assisted cheating may also rise to the forefront, experts said.

“It’s going to be an issue we’re going to have to confront until technology becomes much more broadly proliferated,” said Wesley D. Bruce III, the chief assessment officer for the Indiana education department.

The federal education department plans to compile the information presented from last week’s event into a resource for states, districts, and schools, said Joanne Weiss, the chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the March 08, 2012 edition of Education Week as Educators Look for Lessons From Cheating Scandals

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
The Future of the Science of Reading
Join us for a discussion on the future of the Science of Reading and how to support every student’s path to literacy.
Content provided by HMH
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
From Classrooms to Careers: How Schools and Districts Can Prepare Students for a Changing Workforce
Real careers start in school. Learn how Alton High built student-centered, job-aligned pathways.
Content provided by TNTP
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Assessment What Teachers Really Think About State Testing
State testing remains a complicated debate amongst educators as the end-of-year assessments take place.
1 min read
A teacher points to a board as students listen in a fourth grade classroom at William Jefferson Clinton Elementary in Compton, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2025.
A teacher points to a board as students listen in a fourth grade classroom at William Jefferson Clinton Elementary in Compton, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2025. State testing happens every spring and educators share their thoughts on whether these assessments accurately reflect student learning.
Eric Thayer/AP
Assessment Download 6 Ways to Curb Grade-Change Requests From Students and Parents (DOWNLOADABLE)
No one likes dealing with grade-change requests. Here are some tips to help teachers avoid them altogether.
1 min read
Close up of a schoolgirl showing her C- grade on a test at elementary school.
E+/Getty Images
Assessment Opinion Our Grading System Was Setting Students Up to Fail—Until This Change
Our first reaction to standards-based grading was despair. Then, slowly, things began to change.
Matthew Ebert
5 min read
A student climbs up stairs as letter grades fall around her. In the background a teacher is grading a test.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva
Assessment In Case You Missed It: How Schools Are Measuring Student Success
Explore stories about grading practices, what truly reflects student achievement, and more.
5 min read
Grading and assessment SR
Robert Neubecker for Education Week