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Cheating on ACT, SAT college entrance exams has few consequences

If the testing firms suspect fraud, they simply cancel the student's
score -- but they never tell schools why.

By Carla Rivera


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.

But those colleges will not be told why the scores are invalid, nor
will the students' high school be clued in.

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.

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.

If a score is invalidated, colleges receive a fairly generic alert
like this one sent recently to UCLA:

"The ACT cancels scores for a variety of reasons, including illness
of the examinee, mis-timing of the test, disturbances or irregularity
at the testing site. . . . It is the ACT policy to treat the ACT's
reasoning for canceling a specific score as confidential. "

The agencies say their only concern is the integrity of scores, and
that it would be impractical to expose student cheaters or try to
exact punishment, such as barring them from retaking the test or
noting infractions on transcripts.

"We don't tell schools or anyone else; we simply cancel the score,"
said ACT spokesman Ed Colby. "What we're trying to do is make sure
the scores that we send to colleges are valid. It's not our intention
to go around punishing students who make mistakes or who've done
something they shouldn't have done."

The Educational Testing Service, which administers the SAT for the
College Board, had a similar response.

"The SAT does play a very important role in the college admissions
process, and to prohibit somebody from taking the test . . . that
might hinder their educational future, seems a bit extreme,"
spokesman Tom Ewing said.

But critics assert that such evasions let student cheaters off the hook.

"Their position is thoroughly unaccountable and promotes unethical
conduct," said Michael Josephson, president of the Los Angeles-based
Josephson Institute of Ethics. "What they're basically saying is 'Try
it. You have nothing to lose.' Why not say to someone who robbed a
7-Eleven, 'Please give back the merchandise or pay for it, but we
don't want you to feel bad about stealing.' "

He argued that the stakes are much higher than just invalidated test
scores. With students spending hours preparing for the exams and
their parents paying for tutoring, the exams remain important factors
in college admission, even though some colleges have stopped requiring them.

"If you put up for auction a guaranteed spot into Harvard or UCLA,
people would pay tons of money -- that's how much they're stealing
when they falsely get a place they don't deserve," Josephson said.

According to the two companies, cheating on the tests is relatively
rare and prompts only about 2,000 investigations on average out of
the more than 3 million tests administered each year. Most cheating
accusations come from students or exam proctors and typically involve
a student copying from another's exam.

In a recent high-profile case of cheating on Advanced Placement exams
at Orange County's Trabuco Hills High School, students came forward
to alert test officials to the use of cellphones and other
irregularities. Ten students acknowledged cheating, but the school is
catching heat for not providing adequate supervision.

And many students and parents are angry with the ETS and College
Board for deciding to cancel the scores of all 385 test takers.

Students can cancel SAT or ACT scores for any reason. If the agency
challenges a score, students can retake the test -- usually without
charge -- in a more controlled setting, provide information to
explain why the original score is accurate, or retake the exam the
next time it is given.

Some high schools act on their own to punish students whose scores
have been canceled, sometimes with suspensions if they admit to cheating.

But the head of the private Los Angeles school whose students were
identified as being under investigation by the ACT said he was
unaware of the incident and when he heard about it and contacted the
company, officials there would not confirm it. The school is not
being identified because there is no proof of wrongdoing by its students.

Colleges also may question students whose scores have been canceled.
With 50,000 applications each year, UCLA receives only a handful of
SAT or ACT score cancellations, Admissions Director Vu Tran said.

"When we receive notification from the ACT or SAT, the first thing we
do is check to see if the student will admit to cheating," he said.
"We give the students all due process. But, of course, if the
[agency] was specific and spelled it out, it would be a lot easier."

Cheating on high school and college campuses is not uncommon. A
survey by the Josephson Institute, for example, found that 60% of
high schoolers reported cheating on an exam during the preceding year.

Donald L. McCabe, a Rutgers University professor who has studied
cheating, said college-bound students perceive that because of the
use of proctors and seating arrangements, fraud on the SAT is
difficult -- although many say they would try if they thought they
could get away with it.

McCabe said the test companies may be reluctant to take action
against cheaters because they fear being sued. But Ewing said that was not so.

"We could stand behind whatever investigative results we come up
with," he said. "We've had instances of students taking us to court,
and we have prevailed. For us, it's all about the confidentiality. "

Students taking the two tests sign confidentiality agreements and
promise not to misbehave, but most are unaware of the testing
agencies' policies -- and most professional tutors are not eager to
let them know.

"I've known about this for 25 years but did not believe it served
anybody's interest to be told there were no consequences for cheating
on tests," said Paul Kanarek, president of the Princeton Review of
Southern California. "It's not the right ethical message to send."

For some critics, the issue is not cheating but the imbalance of
power between the test agencies and students. Students must put in
time and effort to retake tests and those who are cleared of cheating
may nevertheless remain suspect.

"The test giver investigates, prosecutes, judges and acts as jury and
can withhold test scores," said Robert Schaeffer, public education
director at FairTest, a Massachusetts- based group that promotes fair
and open testing. "There's no way to be sure who's right."

— Carla Rivera
Los Angeles Times
2008-07-14


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