A widespread cheating scheme at Argonaut High School was foiled last week when students were discovered using test answers that could be traced back to a central school computer program. "About a week ago a couple of students were found in the library with these tiny little cheat sheets with the answers on them," said Amador County Unified School District Superintendent Michael Carey. Carey says the conspiracy is believed to extend to at least 16 students. The answers were stolen from a program called Accelerated Reader designed to improve student reading skills. An investigation eventually led back to one student, an 18-year old named A.T. Herrick. When confronted, Herrick admitted to stealing the information on a disc last September. Although the tests students cheated were only ten percent of their overall grade, Carey says swift punishment will be taken. Grades will be lowered, and combined with the senior status of the students, the new GPA’s could keep two or three of them from graduating. The mother of Herrick says that her son has learned a valuable lesson and is embarrassed and apologetic.
Monday, 02 June 2008 01:57