If honesty is the best policy, somebody needs to tell our kids.

Researchers vary on the exact numbers, but on this they all agree: Our kids are doing a whole lot of cheating at school. About one-third of elementary students, in fact. And the numbers go up as kids get into middle and high school, where over 80 percent of students admit to cheating, according to testing expert Gregory J. Cizek, author of two books on cheating.

“There is nothing new about cheating in school, says Cizek, professor of educational measurement and evaluation at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. “But this generation of kids has more ways to cheat than ever before.”

Although the Internet offers dozens of online help sites for students, there are just as many sites that can help them cheat. They offer assignments that students can copy and paste, print and then pawn off as their original work.

Plus, more kids than ever are carrying personal digital assistants (PDAs), which allow students to silently beam test answers to each other. More ambitious students can create their own database of notes, then access them during the test. The possibilities are endless—which is why PDAs and cell phones are banned from most classrooms.

Why Do Kids Cheat?

When asked, kids say they cheat to get good grades, of course. Cheating is an attractive way to get ahead, especially for students who don’t understand the material or don’t believe they can succeed any other way. Some cheat to free up more time for things they consider more fun or important, such as jobs, sports or friends.

Cizek, a native Michigander who splits his time between North Carolina and a ranch in rural Hillsdale County, points to another factor that compels students to cheat: anxiety.

“We put a lot of pressure on kids today,” Cizek says. “Cheating is a natural response to the fear some kids feel that they won’t measure up to parental demands or can’t compete for scholarships and admission to top colleges.

Finally, many kids cheat because there is no good reason not to. According to a U.S. News and World Report poll, 90 percent of students believe that cheaters are either never caught or disciplined.

“On the one hand, we protest the horror of cheating,” Cizek writes. “On the other hand, we turn a blind eye to the behavior.”

Stopping Cheaters In Their Tracks

The good news, according to a 2004 ABC News Primetime poll, is that nearly all teens surveyed say cheating’s wrong. But as long as it’s easy to get away with, it appears they’ll also keep on doing it. So what can adults do?

Teachers can:
• Guard against cheating. A third of kids surveyed say they’d be more likely to cheat if they knew they’d never get caught. Send a strong anti-cheating message and find new strategies to detect and discourage it.
• Get tech smart, using technology tools like Turnitin (www.turnitin.com) that detect plagiarism. Enforce bans on “signal-emitting” devices by students in your classroom.
• Expose cheating sites. Have students look at a weak paper from a cheating site and analyze its failures. They will learn something about writing and also see that online papers may not impress you.
• Discuss, not preach. Talk about how stealing answers and ideas hurts them and others. Clearly define what cheating looks like, especially where technology
is concerned.
• Take a genuine interest in students and their success. In the ABC News poll, nearly three in 10 teens say they’d be more likely to cheat if their teacher
didn’t seem to care about their work.
Parents can:
• Talk—about why cheating matters and appropriate use of the Internet. Avoid putting so much pressure on kids that they feel they have to cheat to please you.
• Walk your talk. Show your children how you work hard and play by the rules to achieve your goals. Remember, your children are always watching.
• Value the right stuff. Show your children that learning is more important than earning good grades. Help them with homework. Spend time with them. Answer their questions. High scores on tests and papers happen naturally when kids know the information.
• When your child cheats, show your disappointment. Ask, “Why did you cheat? How could you better prepare for the quiz?”
• Check Internet bookmarks. If cheating sites are bookmarked, someone could be using them. Show you are keeping track, and that you care about what they see and do on the ’Net.

Is Cheating Really That Bad?

Allowing cheating to go unchecked can be dangerous, according to Cizek. Students who admit to cheating in school are more likely to be dishonest on the job. And widespread cheating can cause us to draw the wrong conclusions about people.

For example, a child whose mother slips answers to her during a pre-kindergarten test may start school before she is ready, resulting in years of frustration. A teen who cheats on the SAT may be admitted to a college where he will struggle and fail.

And what, asks Cizek, about a dentist who cheats on a licensing exam and passes?
“Licensing a dentist who is incompetent or unsafe is, well, ouch, I don’t even want to think about that.”

Resource: “Detecting and Preventing Classroom Cheating: Promoting Integrity in Assessment,” by Gregory J. Cizek, Corwin Press 2003.