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13 More Students Charged In SAT Cheating Scandal

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

On Long Island in New York, a high school cheating scandal is widening. The local district attorney says 13 additional people now face charges for trying to cheat on college entrance exams. More from NPR's Larry Abramson.

LARRY ABRAMSON, BYLINE: The announcement brings to 20 the total number of people implicated in the testing fraud scheme that broke in September. That's when a graduate of Great Neck North High School was accused of conspiring to take the SAT or ACT exam for six current students. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice says some of the defendants allegedly accepted between $500 and $3,600 to take the place of other students on testing day.

KATHLEEN RICE: So this really, for all intents and purposes, was a business. I mean, it was run like a business; there were referrals that were made.

ABRAMSON: Rice said the arrests exposed systemic problems with security at the SAT and ACT exam sites. The Educational Testing Service, which administers the SAT, says it is investigating and has already tightened security. The alleged cheaters on Long Island took the test where they would not be recognized. ETS's Tom Ewing says the company is studying, for example, whether students should be required to test at their own schools.

TOM EWING: It requires a tremendous commitment of time, energy and resources from the schools, individual schools, to do that.

ABRAMSON: ACT Inc. says it is also looking at ways to improve security. Both companies say they throw out scores when cheating is suspected, but they do not report cheating to police or school officials because of confidentiality rules. Larry Abramson, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Larry Abramson is NPR's National Security Correspondent. He covers the Pentagon, as well as issues relating to the thousands of vets returning home from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.