9486 in the collection  

Princeton Review Accused of Cheating and Plagiarism

The firm hired to provide new math and reading tests to city public school kids has been accused of cheating and plagiarism, according to an explosive federal lawsuit obtained by The Post.

Princeton Review - one of the nation's largest test-coaching companies - was just given a three-year, $8 million contract by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein in July to design and administer periodic quizzes for students in grades 3 through 8 to help identify their strengths and weaknesses.

But here's a little secret.

The group representing the nation's prestigious medical schools and teaching hospitals charged Princeton Review with copyright infringement, fraud and misappropriation of trade secrets for illegally "tapping" its biannual Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) - just months before the city contract was awarded.

Aspiring doctors must take the MCAT to be considered for admission to medical school. The test is administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The suit alleges that "Princeton Review solicited, encouraged and paid its employees and/or agents to take MCAT exams, memorize the secure, copyrighted questions and answers on the exams, and then help create a detailed report reconstructing the content of the questions and answers."

People paid to take tests and reconstruct their contents are called "tappers."

In court papers, the medical group said it obtained a copy of an internal 30-page Princeton Review report that recreated 108 "memorized and reconstructed" questions from the April 2002 medical exam - nearly half of all the 221 questions.

The group said many of the questions are repeated in subsequent exams.

Asked about awarding a testing contract to a firm facing serious allegations of cheating, a spokesman for Klein said that Princeton Review's bid proposal "was judged based on the merits."

Princeton Review Chairman John Katzman insisted the firm did not break the law.

He said the pending case has nothing to do with the interim assessment program his firm is performing for the city school system.

"They're saying we crossed the line. We're saying we didn't," he said.



— Carl Campanile
SUIT RIPS ED. TEST FIRM FOR 'COPYING'
New York Post
2003-09-15
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/5811.htm

---

INDEX OF OUTRAGES

Pages: 380   
[1] 2 3 4 5 6  Next >>    Last >>