Thursday, September 16, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Legislators OK anti-cheating effort

School districts to get help from state worker

CARSON CITY -- Lawmakers Wednesday approved spending $44,000 to hire a state employee who will work with local school districts to devise ways to stop cheating on tests.

Members of the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee approved the expense after they were told students use camera cell phones and wristwatch calculators to cheat on required high school proficiency examinations.

Clark County School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia said the help from the state will be welcome, but he said resources are needed to improve training for those who handle testing.

A recent report from the state showed that of the 121 testing irregularities reported in 2003-04, 65 percent involved errors on the part of educators responsible for test oversight.

"What errors there are, are overwhelmingly human errors," Garcia said.

Keith Rheault, state superintendent of public instruction, said 24 students were caught cheating last year, a 300 percent increase from three years earlier.

He said three teachers who failed to stop cheats were suspended, one for 80 days. All were from Washoe County.

Rheault said some students use camera cell phones to take photos of test pages and pass them to a friends on the outside. Correct answers then are phoned in.

Others use calculators on wristwatches to solve math problems.

He said 30,000 tests were given to students last year, and 24 incidents of cheating is not that high.

"But let's get it cleaned up now," he said. "It is a high priority for us. We need a uniform approach by the school districts."

Garcia said that Clark County bans students from having cell phones or electronic devices during testing. Students caught with the items have their test answers invalidated.

Earlier this week, Rheault reported three incidents of student cheating on a proficiency examination at Chaparral High School in Clark County.

In February, a student was caught using a calculator on the math test. In March, a senior was caught using a homemade multiplication card during the math test. Also in March, a senior was caught looking at the answers of the student next to him. All three had their answer sheets confiscated and invalidated.

Also, Chaparral was investigated for several reports of missing test documents.

During the July proficiency exam given at the Advanced Technologies Academy in Clark County, a senior was caught using a cell phone to cheat.

Cell phones were outlawed in schools until the Legislature repealed the law last year. Because of violence in the schools, legislators thought cell phones could improve school safety. But most school districts do not allow them in classrooms.

When incidents of cheating occur, Rheault said, the state goes after principals and administrators. He said they are required to sign off that teachers have gone through training to prevent cheating.

He predicted increases in test cheating as more and more examinations are required. Students must pass the proficiency examination to graduate from high school.

Review-Journal writer Lisa Kim Bach contributed to this report.