High-tech cheating on the rise in high schools

Cheating on tests has come a long way from writing notes on the back of your hand -- and it's getting harder for schools to police as technology advances, reports The Sacremento Bee.

"It's a huge problem," said John Becker, principal of West Campus High School in Sacramento. "It's been going on pretty much since text messaging was born."

The number of high school students who admit cheating has steadily increased. 70 percent of students at public and private high schools admit to some form of cheating on tests.

... One option to keep kids from cheating on tests would be to change the tests themselves, by substituting multiple-choice or fill-the-blank-style questions with in-class essays or discussion questions, which demonstrate students' grasp of the information and are difficult to cheat on.

According to The New Jersey Media Group, today's well-equipped cheater is armed with high-tech tools that have ushered in a new age of digital deception.

Camera phones can take and transmit pictures of tests or send silent text messages to request or provide answers. MP3 players can hold downloaded notes as easily as they can hold music.

Scanners and computer editing programs can turn the ingredients section of candy wrappers into customized cheat sheets. According to reports in technology magazines, Mentos is often used because of its long paper label, which can be unrolled, flattened and easily scanned.

... Technocheating will only worsen as digital technology gets smaller, cheaper and into more hands.

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