Electronic Scanner Spots Test Cheating

The first signs of tampering on the California Assessment Program test were revealed with the help of a special electronic scanner used by the state Department of Education to evaluate entries on answer sheets.

According to a report released Thursday by the Los Angeles Board of Education, this is how the scanner worked:

Each question had three or four possible answers. Students used pencils to mark their choices. The scanner divided pencil marks into three categories. Exceptionally light marks were treated as no answer. Very dark marks were recorded as answers. Marks in the mid-range of 4 to 10 on a 16-point darkness scale were interpreted as erasures. In cases where two or more marks were detected, the darker mark was treated as the answer. The lighter mark was counted as erasures.

The scanner kept track of changes. On average, 4% of a school’s questions were changed.

When 8% or more of the answers were changed, “a significant possibility (existed) of test answer altering”--in other words, cheating.

Those tests went to an expert, who in some instances found “additional evidence” of tampering. For example, each student has his own style for marking answers.

A visual check of some tests found two different styles of marking.