Cheating, Test Cheating | featured news

More than half of the students implicated in a Harvard University cheating scandal that involved about 125 undergraduates were told to withdraw for as long as a year. Of the remaining students linked to the probe, half were given probation, Michael Smith, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, said today in an e-mail to the Harvard community. The school said in August that the students were under investigation for inappropriate collaboration on a final exam.

Teachers helped students correct mistakes on standardized tests, prepared them with actual test questions or left instructional posters displayed in the classroom during testing, according to school district reports.

Educators say John Allen asked Crescendo principals to show teachers the state standardized test. L.A. Unified was going to suspend him, but the board voted to fire him and close the campuses. The meeting at Crescendo Preparatory South was progressing as usual when the acting principal dropped a bombshell: She had been given copies of the upcoming standardized tests.

The exams will require students to upload photos and provide their gender when they sign up for the tests, the Nassau County district attorney said Tuesday.

An investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows that hundreds of school systems nationwide exhibit suspicious test scores pointing to the possibility of cheating.