<p>"A group of students at a Los Angeles high school is suspected of cheating on the ACT college entrance exam by paying a former student, who used fraudulent identification, to take the tests. The testing agency recently began investigating the claims, which could result in cancellation of scores provided to colleges.</p>
<p>But those colleges will not be told why the scores are invalid, nor will the students’ high school be clued in. </p>
<p>In all likelihood, the students will simply retake the test with few consequences, the result of a little-known policy by the ACT and the College Board, which owns the rival SAT, to keep such irregularities confidential. Each year, millions of stressed-out students take the two tests, hoping a good score will secure them a spot at the nation’s top colleges.</p>
<p>But most students know little of what occurs when a score is in dispute. And the policies of the two nonprofit test companies seem to satisfy no one. Some complain that scores are arbitrarily canceled without evidence, while others criticize the companies for giving a free pass to cheaters."</p>
<p>I remember that at one time, in response to students getting another to take their SATs for them, a thumbprint was required to take the SAT. That’s no longer required. Considering what rides on SAT results and how easy it would be to cheat, very little cheating seems to be going on.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>And many students and parents are angry with the ETS and College Board for deciding to cancel the scores of all 385 test takers.<<</p>
<p>I helped proctor AP tests this year for the first time. Rules are very particular and stringent. All cell phones being turned in at the beginning of the test was one of them. Phones turned off and in your pocket wasn’t good enough. </p>
<p>I felt it was important to be hyper-vigilant to protect the integrity of the test and the scores of the honest test-takers. Honest test takers don’t want to report wrongdoing after the fact because of the risk that their scores may be canceled. It is up to the proctors to insure that this sort of thing doesn’t happen by being vigilant.</p>
<p>I think that the thumbprint is pretty invasive. On the other hand, perhaps that can be faked now with some sort of skin-like layer that duplicates the fingerprint of another person.</p>
<p>Without something like a thumbprint, it is probably very difficult to prove irregularities after the fact. That’s probably why they keep it confidential.</p>
<p>They could just use pictures. Have everyone get up in front of the room and take a group picture that could be analyzed if there are irregularities. At the other extreme is giving a DNA sample.</p>
<p>Thumbprints were taken to make test takers think twice about sending in a substitute. CB would still need to have a reason to think that you sent in a sub in order to decide to check thumbprints–which would require someone bringing a problem to their attention.</p>
<p>Why stop with the thumbprints? I suspect that it took too much time to accomplish and CB decided that the cheapest way to take care of any problems was to cancel stores if in doubt and make the test taker re-take.</p>
How about identification? My son told me that last year
(5/2007) no one even checked for identification when he took his AP exam. And of course the proctor wasn’t his teacher. The exam was off-site (at a church). I was very surprised!</p>
<p>I proctored our state’s merit exam & we required photo id for all students … it was at the high school, during school hours, we knew the kids, and we still expected them to provide the proper id. I agree that id should be checked for ACT & SAT.</p>
<p>I read in Michele Hernandez’s book about the Dartmouth admissions office finding out about cheating episodes in round about ways. E.g. a letter from an applicant’s friend or vague wording on a GC’s form, which led the AdCom to follow up with phone calls to find out details.</p>
<p>What with scanners being so cheap creating fake ID’s is becoming all too easy. I think a photocopy of the ID should be submitted and kept on file or the group picture that another poster recommended.</p>
<p>There are few consequences to cheating, in general. That’s why it is so rampant. For those who don’t care about the character/reputation building that is so important in life, not to mention the moral aspects, do keep in mind that cheating CAN have very, very dire consequences at times. When you draw that lottery ticket, it is not worth what you possibly could gain, as many kids have discovered. Yeah, you can get away with it, but if you are truly busted, you can be hurt tremendously along with others in your family.</p>
<p>Perhaps the companies running the SAT and ACT should consider the actions that the company running the MPRE (Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam), a common part of the bar exam, do. Each test-taker must bring their admission ticket with them the exam. To this admission ticket, the test-taker must have affixed a 2x2 recent photo of themselves. The identification of each test-taker is checked before the test-taker enters the room, and checked again after each test-taker takes their assigned seat in the room. If there is every any question about identity after the fact, that photo attached to the admission ticket had better look remarkably like the actual person who purportedly toook the test.</p>
<p>The likely consequences of any fraud, and it is indeed fraud, would probably result in one not being granted admission to the bar. After three years of law school, that is a huge potential penalty.</p>
<p>I think that as long as suffering consequences is unlikely and penalties are limited, people who are desperate or who lack a moral compass are going to cheat.</p>
<p>^^–^^
GMAC is rolling out the handprint scan program in India and Korea this month and will expand the program to the U.S. by the fall. </p>
<p>Wonder why? </p>
<p>This is something that ETS/TCB should have done years ago in Asia. However, without a correct answer to “Quid custodit ipsos custodes?” the organized cheating on standardized will continue unabated in that part of the world, as well as in the areas of the United States where it has spilled over.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it is not like there is a handprint scan database (like the AFIS one used on CSI). It’ll either act as a deterrent to cheaters or will be used if a test result is flagged. But it can’t tell you if A is taking the test for B on the spot.</p>