We use a natural experiment to show that the presence of an external examiner has both a direct and an indirect negative effect on the performance of monitored classes in standardized educational tests. The direct effect is the difference in the test performance between classes of the same school with and without external examiners. The indirect…

Middle and secondary schools have increasingly offered distance-learning classes as a means of meeting diverse student needs and curriculum requirements while using instructional and budget resources efficiently. Little emphasis has been placed on the readiness of students to participate and succeed in these less conventional learning…

Two studies investigated in which situations teachers (would) investigate whether a student was lying or telling the truth and how these situations were perceived. Results of Study 1 indicate that teachers (would) interview students when it comes to use of unfair means, aggressive behavior, theft, absence without permission, bullying, and…

Recent studies indicate that examiners make a number of intentional and unintentional errors when administering reading assessments to students. Because these errors introduce construct-irrelevant variance in scores, the fidelity of test administrations could influence the results of evaluation studies. To determine how assessment fidelity is…

Screening of students at risk for antisocial behaviors in school is an essential step in the implementation of evidence-based supports for academic, behavioral, and social domains at the first sign of concern. This study examined the measurement properties of a free-access systematic behavior screening tool: the Student Risk Screening Scale…

In this study, an online survey was utilized to investigate relationships among participants' willingness to cheat in academic or business settings and the strategies they tend to utilize in video game play. 113 participants completed the survey, and 86 students (23 middle school, 44 high school, 8 college undergraduate, and 11 graduate) yielded…

Using the latest international educational database, TIMSS, this study investigates and compares the occurrences of 11 student problem behaviors as reported by middle school principals in ten countries. For each country, the study reveals the relationships of these problem behaviors with teachers' attitudes and parental involvement, and discusses…

According to neutralization theory, to justify unethical behavior delinquents often embrace strategies that deflect personal responsibility for their actions from them and toward other persons or contextual factors outside their control. Drawing on neutralization theory, this case study explores how middle school students endorsed comparable…

While development of the Internet has contributed to the spread of online education, online exams have not been widely adopted. An online exam is defined here as one that takes place over the insecure Internet, and where no proctor is in the same location as the examinees. This paper proposes an enhanced secure online exam management environment…

This study examined a new achievement-goal approach to teacher motivation by testing the predictions that mastery and ability-avoidance goals for teaching would predict students' reports of teacher support for and inhibition of question asking and help seeking, as well as students' help seeking and cheating. Surveys were completed by 53 teachers…

What are middle school students' attitudes toward digital cheating and plagiarism? To answer the question, an empirical study was conducted in three middle schools using multiple focus groups and interviews. Students participated in the focus groups, and teachers, and parents participated in interviews. The study found that peer culture…

The 10th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2017) is held under the auspices of the International Educational Data Mining Society at the Optics Velley Kingdom Plaza Hotel, Wuhan, Hubei Province, in China. This years conference features two invited talks by: Dr. Jie Tang, Associate Professor with the Department of Computer…

There is increasing concern about cheating in the secondary schools. This article describes the prevalence of dishonesty in testing, motivation for student cheating, new forms of deception using technology tools, initiatives to protect security of tests, methods students use to obtain papers without crediting the original source, tools for…

Students are under pressure from teachers, parents, and college admissions counselors to maintain high grade point averages, score well on high-stakes tests, participate in a variety of extracurricular activities, and gain admission to top colleges. In fact, surveys have found that most students identify academic pressure as the main reason for…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) More Than "Making Nice": Getting Teachers to (Truly) Collaborate (Laura Pappano); (2) "Doing the Critical Things First": An Aligned Approach to PreK and Early Elementary Math;…