BY HANNAH RAMESAR
The SAT and ACT college entrance exams have tightened security following a recent cheating scandal and these changes are scheduled to take effect in September of 2012.
Extensive measures are being put in place to ensure that future attempts at cheating will be discovered immediately. As a result, photo ID’s, along with other requirements, have become a high priority. According to the new security measures, all test registrants will be required to upload a photograph of themselves when they register for the SAT or ACT. Students will be able to upload scanned photos, webcam photos, or photos from a smart-phone. The photograph will be printed on their admission ticket, the test site roster, checked against the photo ID they provide at the test center, and the photo will accompany student’s scores as they are reported to high schools and colleges. Uploaded photos will be saved in a database available to high school and college admissions officials.
These changes are the result of high scoring students using fake ID’s to take the SAT and ACT exams for other students. The accused youths were paid as much as $3,600 to take the tests. According to the New York Times, people briefed on the investigation said that Samuel Eshaghoff, a 2010 Great Neck North graduate who scored in the 2,100 range on his own SAT, is accused of taking the test for at least fifteen people over three years. The people briefed on the inquiry said he obtained scores for them between 2,170 and 2,220 on the SAT and as high as 33 out of 36 on the ACT. He was proficient at making fake identification cards, they said, and allowed clients to pay in installments based on what they could afford. The fact that two of the people for whom he is accused of taking the tests for, after showing a fake ID, were girls raises concerns about testing security.
“A photo ID simply won’t work to game the system anymore,” Nassau County District Attorney Susan Rice, whose office is prosecuting the alleged cheating cases said in the New York Times.
Photo ID will be required across the board. Additionally, all test registrants will be required to identify their high school during registration. This will ensure that high school administrators receive student’s scores as well as their uploaded photo. This back-end check will provide another opportunity for cheaters to be caught. All test registrants will provide their date of birth and gender, which will be printed on the test site roster. Further adding on to the list of tightened security measures is the elimination of standby test registration in its current form. All test-takers will be required to completely register, with a photo, and arrive at the designated test center with a proper admission ticket and photo ID. Students not appearing on the roster or who have an insufficient ID or admission ticket will not be allowed to sit for the exam.
Proctors are also involved. They will be responsible for checking students’ identification more frequently at test centers. IDs will be checked upon entry to the test center, re-entry to the test room after breaks, and upon collection of answer sheets. Proctors will also receive additional training to help them identify cheaters, and high school and college officials will receive more information about reporting to testing companies about suspected cheating. Testing companies may conduct “spot checks” with enhanced security at randomly selected locations.
“All these security measures might stop the cheating for a while,” Cooper City High senior Sarah Hitt said. “But there is always going to be someone that tests the limits.”
Ms. Sewik, the BRACE advisor at Cooper City High agreed with this and believes the system will be effective but only time will tell.
While some are enthusiastic about stricter rules, others worry about the changes affecting the cost of the exams. Educational Testing Service administers the SAT and spent $21 million on security in 2010-11. Kathleen Steinberg, executive director for communications at the College Board, said she did not know how much the additional measures would cost the company, but there would be no impact on the cost to students. The ACT now costs $34, or $49.50 with the writing component and the SAT costs $49.
“We are confident that the security advancements made today will help maintain an honest testing environment. It was crucial that these new measures address test-taker impersonation issues.” Kathryn Juric, vice president of SAT at the College Board, said.
