Dist. 87 principal: Cheaters getting tougher to catch

Calculators provided all the proof Glenbard West High School officials needed that students were cheating on a final exam.

Answers to an honors math test were stored on the devices.

With one student suspended, three others given zeros on the exam and more than a dozen taking the offer of a do-over, the school is now looking at ways to prevent future episodes.

"The biggest issue is the pressure these kids are under (to succeed). And they are under pressure," Principal Jane Thorsen said.

"The second issue is the times we live in," Thorsen said. "Students know how to text without looking at their phones. They know how to sit in class and program a (test) key on their calculator."

Thorsen said the school needs to be equally sophisticated with its test security measures.

That may mean providing all the high-tech calculators students need in class during exams, or perhaps checking personal calculators before and after tests to make sure no data is stored, she said.

"Students do this to get ahead," Thorsen said. "How long can you get away with that before you have no concept of what you're doing in the long run?"

The situation came to light last Wednesday when a parent called the school to say a student was offering the exam results for sale the night before at the Glen Ellyn Library. About the same time, a staff member heard students talking about a test for sale, Thorsen said.

When it came time for the exam, students' calculators were checked for saved test questions and answers.

Three students found to have cheated were given zeros on the exam. The student determined to have sold the test was suspended for "several days," Thorsen said. She would not comment on whether the student is recommended for expulsion.

Though the problem was discovered on the third of three final exams, all 82 students in the class were offered the same option -- with the exception of those already disciplined -- "because it was impossible to determine the extent of the breach," she said.

They could either retake the final exam or skip the test score altogether and take as a course score an average of the first and second quarters. Fourteen students chose to retake the test.

"We felt that in order to be fair to everyone we didn't want to make students take it again," Thorsen said.

Thorsen said examining the issue of class ranking might be one way of helping students take some of the excessive pressure to succeed from themselves.