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SAT Cheating Ring Embarrasses College Board Into Changing Security
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 25, 2011
Modified Oct 25, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 25, 2011
Modified Oct 25, 2011
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The SAT cheating ring that a Long Island high school graduate allegedly orchestrated, which involved him posing as various high school students by using fake IDs, has now made the College Board take notice. At a hearing today, Newsday reports the testing service promised to make "a sweeping review of the system that safeguards testing of students, along with new security measures that could include taking digital photos of all test takers."
Right now, the College Board gives the SAT to over 2 million students around the world annually. President Gaston Caperton told the NY State Senate's Higher Education Committee that some new procedures will be in place by the November 5 SAT. The scandal emerged last month when Great Neck High School graduate Samuel Eshagahoff was arrested for fraud and criminal impersonation for allegedly accepting thousands to take students' SATs for them.
Great Neck High School principal Bernard Kaplan blasted security procedures, pointing out students can take the tests at a school other than their own and can fake IDs, "Make up a school, put any name you like and your picture on the card, sign that name and pick a mascot for good luck. In fact, if you want to cover yourself, you don't even have to go to the site you requested ... you can go as a walk-in to any site that you desire using that made-up ID." Kaplan's suggestion: Students should take the exam at their own schools and if they want to go to a different school, the district must validate their reasons.
State Senator Kenneth LaValle (R), who heads the Higher Education Committee, was unhappy about the cheating scandal and suggested that some students' parents may have been complicit, "Where and how did the students get the cash?" to pay Eshaghoff the alleged $2,500 to take the test. "Who knew about this, and when did they know about it?"
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college board
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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