How investigators root out cheating
Forensic analysts called to investigate alleged cheating on school tests typically analyze eraser patterns and look for abnormalities. They search for indications that an educator erased incorrect answers and filled in correct answers, for example, while making it appear like the student did the erasing and answer selecting.
An investigation also will look for highly unlikely anomalies in which the statistical probability of the unlikely results being random coincidence is exorbitantly small.
In Pennsylvania, the PSSA is given annually in various grades to assess math and reading skills. Minnesota-based Data Recognition Corp. analyzed scores from 2009 and found hundreds of aberrant results. In its report, it singled out about 90 schools with the most red flags.
In this special report:
Fallout in Atlanta … and elsewhere
How investigators root out cheating
Based on statistical properties, the report said the suspicious results were “highly improbable.”
It noted that any possible fraud could have been perpetrated by students, teachers, or other officials. But the company also stressed that the scores could have been obtained fairly.
“Their scores, response pattern, and number of erasures were aberrant, from a statistical probability perspective,” the report states. “This does not imply that the school or student engaged in inappropriate testing activity.”
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