By Holly K. Hacker and Joshua Benton Staff Writers Page 21A The Dallas Morning News wanted to check whether cheating occurs on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. So it turned to an expert in the field: George Wesolowsky, a professor of management science at McMaster University in Canada. Nearly a decade ago, Dr. […]
Month: June 2007
Faking the Grade: A conservative estimate
By Joshua Benton and Holly K. Hacker Staff Writers Page 21A The News’ analysis found more than 50,000 students whose answer sheets on the TAKS in 2005 and 2006 appear to have been involved in cheating. But there are several reasons to believe that underestimates the problem – perhaps severely. The News’ data did not […]
Faking the Grade: Common questions about the analysis
Page 20A Can you really detect cheating through statistics? The science of detecting too-similar answer sheets is decades old and well accepted among psychometricians – the people who design standardized tests. It has been the subject of dozens of academic papers in respected journals. Statistical methods similar to The News’ are used to detect cheating […]
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Faking the Grade: Failing to catch cheaters: State says it’s addressed the problem, but News uncovers over 50,000 cases on TAKS
By Joshua Benton and Holly K. Hacker Staff Writers Page 1A First of three parts Tens of thousands of students cheat on the TAKS test every year, including thousands on the high-stakes graduation test, according to an in-depth data analysis by The Dallas Morning News. The analysis – among the first of its kind on […]