A New York Times article immediately caught my attention when Great Neck High School was mentioned. Being a native New Yorker, Great Neck High School was only minutes from where I spent the first eighteen years of my life. Great Neck, located on the north shore of Long Island is an affluent community where the competition to get into college is fierce (I can speak from perusal experience). This week, six students are being charged with misdemeanors for allegedly paying a prior classmate, Samuel Eshaghoff, up to $2,500 to take the SAT’s for them.
So how exactly did Esaghoff pull this off? He allegedly used altered New York state id’s for five other males and one female. The id’s had the other students information on it, but Eshaghoff’s picture. Questions arose when one student’s GPA was inconsistent with his SAT score. Eshaghoff was accused after six handwritting samples matched his. He scored between 2210 and 2220 out of a possible 2400 on all six of the exams he took for other students. Eshaghoff, a sophomore transfer student at Emory University has plead not guilty to felony charges of scheming to defraud, falsifying business records and criminal impersonation. If convicted he could face up to four years in prison.
Despite this case making headline news, cheating on standardized tests, such as the SAT’s is not very common. According to Bob Schaeffer, a driector of public education, there are two types of cheating, collaboration cheating and impersonation. Of the two, impersonation is far less common. The Educational Testing Service reported that of the 2.25 million students who take the SAT’s each year, only 1,000 scores are with held on suspicion of cheating. If a student is suspected of cheating, the score is cancelled and the student is given the option to retest. As of now, the SAT College Board is not required to notify colleges if a student is suspected of fowl play.
A survey of 43,00 high school students conducted by the Josephson Institute of Ethics showed different picture of todays high school students.. Of those surveyed, 59% admitted to cheating on a test in the past year. Those who admitted to cheating more than twice in the past year made up 34% of the students surveyed. Based on these findings, more that twice the majority feel as though cheating is justified. Although these results are not based on cheating on the SAT’s they may give some insight as to what is going on with high schoolers today.
While reading this article, I came across another New York Times article where the roles were reversed. In this case, the Atlanta, Georgia public school district was found guilty of changing student’s answers on standardized tests. According to this article there are schools where teacher’s performance reviews and allocation of bonuses are determined by test scores. This places a tremendous amount of pressure on teachers and administrators.
In my opinion SAT”s and ACT’s are not the best way to evaluate a student. I do not feel that these tests are an accurate portrayal of a student’s ability to succeed in college. Right now, approximately 865 colleges and universities have opted not to use these scores in the admissions process. I believe it is more beneficial to take a holistic approach and consider a students entire academic career. Although this may be more costly and time consuming, it looks at the student as an individual rather than a number.
I completely agree with you, standardized testing does not adequately measure academic success. I believe this is one of the greatest flaws in our educational system. School districts rely heavily on funding that is based on test scores, adding stress to teachers and students alike. This creates a notion that teaching to a test is more important than actually helping students learn and understand the material. The article below helps illustrate reasons why standardized testing is failing our students.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Test_Problems_Seven/
Perhaps this pressure to do well on tests is what leads some students to cheat...
I concur with both comments that standardized testing does not assess effectively students’ academic success. A more comprehensive approach should be adopted to evaluate students’ academic performance. However, as I commented on Amy’s post, the educational testing service industry has become an enormous monopoly that serves many vested interests in the corporate world. Therefore, and adoption of other forms of assessment and evaluation are very unlikely throughout the educational pipeline.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that standardized testing may not be the best method of evaluating intelligence or measuring future success, there does seem to be some merit to such testing. There is a perfect example of this listed above. When a high SAT score did not align with a student's GPA, it raised a red flag. There is a positivie correlation between a high GPA, genearl intelligence, and scoring well on a test such as the SAT. Therefore, it is an efficient measure of student success as they enter college. While there may be better ways to evaluate students, those methods are not efficient, cost-effective, or practical.
ReplyDeleteHolly, thank you for posting this article. I do not think the number of students cheating on exams is that hard to believe. Furthermore, I do not find the SAT or school district cheating surprising. Education has moved to standardized testing from K-12 to higher education and it is driving competition and desperation.
ReplyDeleteSchools are funded based off their "score" and students get into colleges/universities based off their "score." We hold everyone to the same accountable measures and do not take in the unique situations that may alter true success rates. There is pressure on almost all aspects of education because of the measurements that have been created.
As a community college professional, we require all students to take the accuplacer (or send in ACT/SAT scores). I see way too many students take the test and wing it so that they can enroll in classes. Depending on the day, the student could test much lower and place into a remedial course that will require more time and money. Had that student studied, even for an hour or so, they may have been able to test higher and save themselves time and money. Standardized tests are very controversial in my mind, but with that said I do not have an answer on how best to assess everyone without these types of tests. Would that require significant more resources? Probably.
As long as we have these competitive tests that control our funding and our future, we will have cheating. I believe students will become more clever in their cheating and will, if they have not already, find ways to beat the system.
I am marveled that people still cheat and not think about getting caught. And only four years if found guilty. I thought students were getting smarter-apparently not.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if students would even think about cheating if the tests were not so important to get in college. Testing does not equal intelligence. So how or what should be using to assess students? Great question, dissertation topic anyone?
I would go back to the question to why people cheat? I am inclined to think it is because they do not think they will ever get caught. From the article it is a few number of people who even try. Not sure we need those folks on our campuses if this how they want to start their educational journey.
Can we talk about more about how a young man’s imaged is used for females taking the exam and how they even entered the exam using his picture as their identification? Or the poor man who thinks only $2,500 is worth taking this risking type of move? Go big buddy at least $5K or at least think about how much your life is worth when you have 4 less years of it (spent in prison).
Here’s to cheaters never winning in the end! I am loving the legal system right now-just hope more than 4 years if found quilt (need to hear him out at least).
As my daughter is starting the application process for colleges, it is so frustrating to her the number of schools that do rely heavily on the SAT/ACT scores. She is a 3.75 student with an incredible resume of leadership and volunteer work but she cannot succeed at standardized testing. She not only has test anxiety but she thinks very literal and these tests put in many "curve balls." So there are some schools that she may struggle to get into but only based on her lack of a strong test score. It seems ridiculous! However, on the flip side, my oldest son was a "master" at testing. His test scores were amazing but his grades suffered. He didn't think that all the busy work assignments were necessary. He felt it was a waste of his time.
ReplyDeleteTwo different types of students and both academically able to succeed at the college level. My question then becomes, why not look at the ACT/SAT scores as a secondary resource. Let a student show their successes in the classroom and if they haven't done so well in the classroom, then look to the standardized testing scores. I just don't think the heavy reliance on test scores is necessary. They also base a lot of the financial funding on the standard test scores.
As my daughter goes through the process, I hope that she can find a college on her top 10 list that will see past her weak ACT score and see all the great accomplishment she has achieved. And my son, who hates the class time, busy work assignments will likely finish his degree on line!