On May 23 and 24, the KU Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation will hold its first scholarly conference to focus on using statistical analysis of answers as a way to detect test fraud through patterns of irregularity. Neal Kingston, director of the center, says that the conference will “benefit students by creating a fair system so that everyone is on an equivalent playing field.”

Eighty-four percent of students at a public research university believe students who cheat should be punished, yet two of every three admit to having cheated themselves. Most of the cheating students admit to involves homework, not tests, and they see academic misconduct applying differently to those two kinds of work.

Nearly half those who cheat in social games also cheat in real life. If these behaviors were independent, we would expect only twenty percent, not fifty percent.

As one clinical psychologist said, “These exams, as research instruments, are priceless! They cannot be replaced!” Clinical psychologists have done their best to safeguard the security of these exams, but pressures from website operators and lawyers seeking disclosure of questions has taken a toll.

a newspaper filmed examiners telling teachers which subjects were likely to come up and even which questions to expect. The evidence from the videos is indesputable and clearly shows examiners explaining to educators their blatant disregard for fairness.

- Administrators in 14 New Jersey school districts flagged for high wrong-to-right erasures found no evidence cheating or testing irregularities.
- Investigations are still ongoing in 12 other school districts.
- Explanations for the anomalous erasures appeared to focus on special erasing or answer-changing behaviors employed by particular schools.

“We launched Identica to enhance the security of our exams, which are widely used for immigration and citizenship, higher education and business, and need the highest levels of integrity,” Sarah Corcoran, Director at Cambridge Assessment stated.

- Evidently, grades as old as 2004 were hacked and changed to a better grade between June 2010 and July 2011. There is no other information given, but one wonders who received these “improved” grades and why.
- There are three major types of exam fraud: collusion, cheating, and tampering. This is a case of tampering.

Ignoring fraud can have serious repercussions - Governments have been destabilized - Financial institutions have been destroyed! And now, the University of Wales, after 120 years of existence, has been abolished due to exam fraud! There is significant risk and liability when tests are not securely administered. Be vigilant against fraud to avoid such troubles. Ignore it [...]

The Illinois State Department of Education will start conducting formal cheating analyses. The analyses will include gain scores or pass rate changes, analysis of person-fit residuals, and erasure analysis. The decision is probably due to an increased awareness of cheating in public schools and Secretary Duncan’s encouragement to monitor for cheating on statewide assessments using [...]