Dear Associate,

This issue of "Cheating in the News" marks the 3rd year anniversary, and 71st issue of this newsletter. In the last 3 years I’ve reviewed thousands of articles and shared over 500 stories about test cheating and solutions to the problem. One thing is clear – this is a crisis that won’t be going away any time soon.

Last week’s ATP conference in Palm Springs was a great success. Where else can you rub shoulders with Futurist, Barry Minkin; Academic Integrity Expert, Don McCabe; and Über Psychometricians, Frank Schmidt and Ron Hambleton all in one place? The sessions were packed, the exhibits were engaging and the disco party was a blast. The conference set a new record with over 750 attendees. Next year’s conference will be March 2-5 in Dallas, Texas.

My good friend Jerry Christensen took pictures, and I put together a short video of the conference. Check them both out here.

Best regards,

Don Sorensen
Vice President, Marketing
Caveon Test Security
801.592.3396

1 > Students take tests without proctors
People's Daily Online - Beijing,China
...No proctor in an examination hall! It may sound unlikely at a time when students are finding new ways and using more sophisticated tools to cheat and the number of such cases is rising. But No 30 Middle School in Xi'an proved students were essentially honest by making 55 of them take their exams without a single proctor in the hall on Saturday....

2 > Cheating students caught out by cellphone monitors
Tarankai Daily News - Taranaki,New Zealand
...University students who use their "luv of txting" to cheat in exams are getting caught by new technology that alerts supervisors to cellphone use....

3 > Cheats vow tech upgrading
China Daily - China
...After 30 examinees were found using wireless headsets to cheat on Shanghai's postgraduate entrance examination on January 20 and 21, and with many others complaining about lost opportunities to cheat because of close supervision, test con artists, who provide cheating services to examinees, announced on the Internet that they would upgrade their technology to trump anti-cheating devices the proctors used, according to the Shanghai Morning Post....

4 > Air Force Academy Probes Alleged Cheating by Cadets
Washington Post - Washington,DC,USA
...The Air Force Academy is investigating allegations of cheating by 28 freshmen and has restricted all 4,300 cadets to campus over the weekend, asking them to meet in small groups to consider "their self-image and the image of the institution," Air Force officials said yesterday....

5 > Police open fire after guardians demand cheating be allowed
Hindu - Chennai,India
...Police fired in the air after people, demanding that their wards be allowed to cheat in a test, pelted stones at them and torched part of an examination centre and two vehicles here today....

6 > Questions raised about materials that boosted test scores
Dayton Daily News (subscription) - Dayton,OH,USA
...The sixth-grade class at City Day Community School didn't have a single student pass the math portion of the Ohio Achievement Test in 2004-05. A year later, 100 percent of its seventh graders passed the state's seventh-grade math test....

7 > Uganda: We Need Far More Strict Measures to Stop Cheats
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
...The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) on Friday released results of last year's Uganda Certificate of Education exams. As has become the practice, results of 2,742 students have been cancelled due to cheating and seven schools lost examination centre status....

Testing Industry News

Performance Testing Council Summit
March 7-9, Pensacola Beach, Florida
Learn about the work of the PTC committees and research covering a range of topics including psychometrics, test design, and interoperability standards for scalable delivery of performance items--areas relevant to organizations in a variety of fields who seek new value for their testing and certification programs.

AERA/NCME Annual Meeting and Exhibition
April 9-13, Chicago, Illinois
The theme of the 2007 AERA Annual Convention is "The World of Educational Quality." This theme can be interpreted in a number of ways and points to both an expanded range of inquiry and an intensified focus on the meaning of quality in education research and practice. NCME Information.