Regents move to curb cheating on tests

The state Board of Regents took the first step Tuesday toward ending the practice of allowing local teachers to score standardized exams and moving to outside, electronic scoring -- a move necessary to reduce opportunities for cheating, officials said.

Though acknowledging there hasn't been pervasive exam scandals in New York, Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch said: "We have to do something to shore up the issue of test integrity."

Toward that, the Regents voted to secure an independent review of the state's procedures for detecting cheating and develop a proposal to move to what's called centralized scoring. Before the end of the year, Tisch said she expects to have a plan to present to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the legislature.

Tisch and Education Commissioner John B. King Jr. said that most other states have moved to centralized scoring. This involves transmitting answers on standardized tests electronically to a pool of experienced graders who would assign scores.

King said the current system of local scoring creates a situation in which teachers might be tempted to help their students. He noted that in the last year the Education Department prohibited the rescoring of any open-ended questions -- a practice he said that caused a "statistically improbable" grouping of scores around 65, the passing mark.

King said while centralized scoring would involve some upfront costs, it would provide long-term benefits, including reducing the number of people and institutions that handle the exams and allowing for more sophisticated analysis of student errors and of erasure patterns, which could indicate cheating.

"This is not about playing 'gotcha,' " Tisch said, adding that she believed in the integrity of the teacher workforce. But with so much hinging on standardized tests -- high school diplomas and federal funding, for starters -- she said, "We've got to make sure those markers of student achievement, those indicators are as verified as possible.

"I happen to not believe that there is widespread cheating," Tisch added. "But by showing we are paying attention to this, we lessen the temptation."

A teachers union official said they weren't opposed to centralized scoring, but felt the board might be adding a layer of bureaucracy to address what so far has been a very limited problem.

However, other regents agreed with Tisch.

"I think it's necessary," said Roger Tilles of Great Neck, Long Island's representative on the board. "The more we make these tests high stakes, then the more security measures we have to take."

Tilles added that he doesn't believe so much should be riding on standardized tests, but that under current federal mandates, states have little choice.