Students' online cheating threatens integrity of grading

Students cheating on assignments that they are required to complete at home has always been a concern for educators, but with more online assignments due to the COVID-19 pandemic the issue has drawn more attention.

Cases of cheating in central Texas have been investigated by KXAN, and the station reported that students are taking advantage of online learning. One parent who asked not to be identified said her own children know peers who are taking advantage of remote learning and that her children are at a disadvantage.

The organization Teachers for Texas has a petition on its website for teachers to sign for accurate grade reporting, and more than 1,100 teachers have signed en route to the group's goal of 2,000 signatures.

“It is time to take back the classroom, giving power to accurately grade student performance to the teacher without the fear of retaliation, write-ups or dismissals," the website noted. "Students need to learn responsibility and the consequences of not doing assignments. Could you imagine if students were actually doing assignments and learning? Wouldn’t that help test scores, reading levels and reduce stress and behavior issues, instead of just giving grades?” 

“Teachers do not have a control of who is actually doing the work,” Tera Collum, executive director of The Travis Institute of Educational Policy, told Education Daily Wire. “However, to be fair, this would've been applicable before this when projects or homework were assigned to be done at home.”

Students who want to cheat will do it, but teachers do have some options.

“Just like before distance learning, if a student wants to cheat, they will find a way to do it," Collum said. "A teacher will not be able to stop them but, hopefully, will pick up on their cheating. 

“One thing [teachers] can do is assign work that can be done during the assigned class time. Many of the online programs allow for teachers to see assignments and there are also programs that can be added to computers that allow teachers to see the screen of the students.”

One issue with the focus on testing and grades over learning is that teachers are worried they will lose their job if scores are not good. There also are monetary incentives for teachers.

“In some districts the teachers will receive more money if their students do well on the STAAR," Collum said. "They are promised up to $30,000 more a year. Most teachers though, do not receive that much. [In] most cases, teachers are always worried that they will lose their job if their scores are not good or did not show improvement.”

Regarding how the focus on testing impacts a student's learning experience with the stress of the pandemic on young people, Collum said she believes it will "negatively impact the student's learning.

"We were seeing higher levels of anxiety and stress in students before COVID," Collum said. "I think that once students understand that they are required to take the exam, they will be very anxious. Right now I think they may be working on the idea that they won't have to take it like last year, even if teachers are stressing the testing prep. There are so many unknowns out there about what is going to happen that students are more stressed. Test or no test."

Administration must support teachers with the focus on learning over testing and grade collection.

"They must have administration that will help with that focus," Collum said. "If the administration is supportive of teachers and allow them to teach, then the scores will come. Many of the schools/districts that are struggling have rigid rules about what to teach and how to teach it." 

Another larger issue, according to Collum, is who is held more accountable for grades.

"The bigger question would be how is it that teachers are being held more accountable for grades when the students are not," she said. "Teachers are the ones that are working harder, putting in more time and effort to make sure that students are able to work from home. But some administrators will make teachers pass students if a teacher didn't turn in the correct paperwork in time. This allows the mindset of making assignments optional to the students. It still comes down to the fact that the administration must respect and trust in their staff and hold the students accountable for completing the assignments, online or in the classroom."