Putting tests to the test

DRAPER — Caveon Test Security is a company:

A. Based in Utah.

B. Specializing in helping test administrators thwart cheating on standardized exams.

C. With experience poring over more than 50 million test records.

D. That has reviewed 5 million test records for a single customer.

E. All of the above.

The answer, as one might guess, is E.

The young company says it is the only one of its type in the world, using institutional knowledge and statistical savvy to provide customers who suspect test cheating with, well, answers.

"We have services for testing programs administering large-scale, high-stakes tests," Chief Executive Officer Dave Foster said, mentioning the Graduate Record Exam, the College Board's SAT and the ACT as examples.

"Almost everyone has taken a test, and with good security, the test scores that come out of them are something that can be trusted. If cheaters are effective, and we know they are — our data has shown that cheaters generally pass the tests and generally get the higher scores — then how much can you trust them?"

The problems

Test cheating has come a long way from crib notes scribbled on one's palm, but crude variations nonetheless flourish. Don Sorensen, Caveon's vice president of marketing, includes many in his list of 50 ways to cheat on tests, part of a marketing presentation. Rubber bands around the wrist, the inside labels of water bottles, the backs of neckties and even food wrappers can be employed to conceal test answers.

Sometimes, it's not the test-takers instigating the trouble. Administrators have been known to help out students. Foster knows of one case in which a test prep organization sold answers to students.

"And the No Child Left Behind Act has put tremendous pressure on educators to measure up to get that federal funding," he said.

But technology has opened new doors for both cheaters and those who steal and then sell test information. Some calculators can store answers. Wireless communications, photo-taking cell phones and ear buds can be used to gain advantages. Document scanners as small as a pen can copy entire tests, with the info often then made available on the Internet. In some situations, test-takers simply memorize an exam's contents and either share or sell it online.

"All indications are it's getting worse, and I don't think it's because we're just getting more sensitive and attuned to it," Foster said. "The technology to capture and share the information, those things have put solid programs, ones that have existed for 80 years, in jeopardy.