1 > Investigation details teachers cheating on standardized tests - KSTP.com
According to the Minnesota Board of Teaching, one teacher had their license suspended for three years for altering student’s answers on a test. Another teacher had their license suspended for nine months for administering a test improperly.Even though the test booklets are supposed to be sealed and kept locked up, the reports showed that teachers were found to be taking the tests, sharing them with other teachers, and in one case, a teacher’s pre-test lesson plan included a math problem which was “strikingly similar” to one appearing on the actual test.
2 > New Gadgets Emerge to Help Exam Cheaters
But the latest alert involves an extremely small wireless camera and a microchip, which is small enough to be attached inside the ear.The video device can photo printed questions and then transmit them to a receiver installed in the vicinity. People wearing the microchip can listen to correct answers through the gadget.
3 > State reports increased student cheating on MCAS - The Boston Globe
The number of Massachusetts students cheating on the MCAS more than doubled this year, compared to 2006, and the number of teachers accused of improperly helping students with the exam continued to increase, according to new state data. The Department of Education documented a total of 63 incidents, including 43 cases involving students who shared answers or brought crib sheets into the testing room and 20 involving educators, according to a report given to the Globe yesterday.
4 > Marine Recruiters Punished for Cheating - The Associated Press
The military has punished nine Marine Corps recruiters who arranged for stand-ins to take Armed Services entrance exams for new enlistees.The cheating was made public Wednesday, though officials at the Military Entrance Processing Station in Houston noticed in April that signatures of test takers didn’t match those on enlistment forms, said Capt. John Niemann, a spokesman for the recruiting district.
5 > New TEA chief has done his homework, but real test is ahead - Dallas Morning News
First up, Mr. Scott says, is to attack cheating on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills tests more aggressively. Potential steps include putting monitors in schools with questionable scores and punishing educators who cheat, including by pulling their credentials. Fifty-three such cases are pending. He also would consider revoking a school’s accountability rating over TAKS cheating.With criticism still lingering that TEA’s response to past allegations of cheating was too lax, Mr. Scott said he is determined to find the best way to use statistics and on-the-ground investigations to snag cheaters.
6 > Exam Cheats Risk Jail Term - allAfrica.com
Students found cheating exams face a minimum of two years in prison, a national examinations’ council official has said.John Rutayisire, the Executive Secretary of Rwanda National Examination Council (RNEC), said yesterday that offending students risk a prison punishment of between two to ten years and a two-year suspension from taking any examinations in the country.The announcement came on the final day of this year’s Primary Leaving Examinations .
7 > Brian Maass gets airline de-icing scoop - The Denver Post
Undercover camera work by a Channel 4 staffer reveals blatant cheating by an instructor for Servisair, one of the world’s largest aviation ground service providers. The teacher spoon-feeds applicants the test answers, even telling them to get one answer wrong so as not to draw attention to their uniformly perfect scores. In fact, the applicants for these $13/hour jobs had little or no understanding of the de-icing process.
8 > Need for improved exam ethics
The disclosure by the Examination Ethics Project (EEP), a non-governmental organisation at the forefront of the campaign to eradicate examination malpractices in Nigeria, that the country lost about N190 billion to poor examination ethics in the last five years is worrisome. The situation calls for immediate intervention by governments at federal, state and local levels before it completely ruins the nation’s educational system.
9 > Vietnam teachers in ‘exam bribes’ - BBC NEWS
A group of 26 teachers and education officers are being tried in Vietnam accused of taking bribes from pupils.The defendants have been charged with accepting tens of thousands of dollars from more than 1,700 students in return for improving their results.
Testing Industry Events
Association of Test Publishers (ATP)
Innovations in Testing Conference
March 3-5, 2008
Gaylord Texan, Dallas, TX
ATP Test Security Summit (in conjunction with ATP conference)
March 5-6, 2008
Theme: Preventing Test Fraud and Protecting Intellectual Property
Caveon Test Detective
This new Caveon service under development will analyze all tests administered for a specific testing session. It will detect and report pairs of test takers where the test responses are more similar than we would expect under normal testing situations.
We are conducting a short ten-question survey to help us put the final touches on this exciting service. If you would like to participate in the survey click on the link below.
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