The solution for SAT cheaters?
February 9, 2012 by Jake SimmsPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
Sitting down for the SAT tests may not be so easy someday. Reason: Schools are fed up with cheaters.
In New York, lawmakers are looking at DNA technology that would prevent cheaters-for-hire from taking tests for other students.
This comes on the heels of a cheating scandal in Long Island where 19-year-old Sam Eshaghoff and others took college entrance exams for cash from dishonest students.
Eshaghoff only needed a fake student ID. “I took the template from my high school ID, pasted my picture on top of it, and whatever person’s name whose test I was taking, I would have their name and date of birth on it,” he revealed. “And it was as simple as that.”
He charged students as much as $2,500 a pop. Now New York legislators may pass a law against test-taking, which would cut into scam artists’ profits.
School ID or driver’s license won’t cut it?
Researchers at the applied DNA sciences lab at Stony Brook University are working on a system that would create unique student IDs.
Students would pre-register for an SAT or ACT ID at home using official legal documents. Then a DNA sample is taken and that unique code is imprinted on the card.
Testing officials would then scan the card with a UV (ultraviolet) light and smart phone. If it’s not in the system, the student can’t sit for the test. And if the person presenting the card doesn’t look like the person on the card, he or she is out of luck.
Sound like a smart idea? Let us know about it below.
Tags: ACT, cheating in schools, DNA identification, SAT cheating, stony brook university
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February 11th, 2012 at 4:07 pm
I am a test center supervisor – this may be something that would prevent cheating and I am certainly all for that, but I would be very interested how this would affect the logistics on test day – I think many/some test centers would simply decide not to be a test center. I am assuming the cost wouldn’t be prohibitive, but I would guess this would also be a factor for some schools.
February 12th, 2012 at 4:11 pm
Don”t reinvent the wheel. Check out how Pearson testing centers work. A larger problem exists with high stakes testing in that schools or testing facilities can not block cell signals. Cell use in most protored setting happens because schools can not block FCC signals. Additionally, in Indiana, End of Course exams are proctored by the very teachers whose evaluations are affected by their students performance on the tests. Anyone not see a potential conflict of interest here. At the higher ed level, a college admission officer was recently caught changing SAT scores to make the college look better for a national poll. The system is broken, badly!