Clear Lake students punished in cheating scandal

A cheating scandal that involved about 200 students at Clear Lake High School, and resulted in the scrapping of results for all English IV final exams, has led to disciplinary action against at least 60 students, officials announced Thursday.

Students who cheated on the semester final, which was administered in December, will have an exam score of zero calculated in their final grade and may face additional punishment, according to a statement issued by Clear Creek ISD. The student code of conduct states that academic dishonesty, which includes cheating, can result in a zero and in-school suspension.

More students are expected to be disciplined in coming weeks, said Elaina Polsen, the district's director of communications. "Ultimately, our message is that this is serious and we are taking it seriously," Polsen said.

About 200 students were believed to have cheated on the 56-question multiple choice final, which counts for 20 percent of a student's semester grade.

Teachers and administrators began to suspect cheating after the first day of testing when they noticed some unusual answer patterns.

When the exams were given to a different group of students the next day, the question order was switched around, but the answer pattern was the same, confirming the suspicions, officials said.

The 60 students who have been disciplined were second-day test-takers who responded as if the questions were in their original order, Polsen said.

"Our hope is that the students who cheated realize excellence is worth the effort; cheating is not," Superintendent Greg Smith said in the statement. "We are looking at this as more than a final exam, but also as an opportunity to learn a lifelong lesson."

The same final was administered just before winter break to all English IV students in the district's four high schools.

Students given options

After the cheating was discovered, officials threw out the exam results for all Clear Lake students enrolled in English IV.

Students were given the option of taking the final again and including the score in their semester grade, or skipping the test altogether and calculating their semester grade by taking the average of the first two nine-week marking periods.

School district officials believe that a student texted the exam answers to classmates before the final was given, said Polsen. They are still trying to determine how the student obtained the answers.

As a result, the district is reviewing testing procedures and ways to improve security, Polsen said.

Ethics reinforcement

Last week, Clear Lake Principal Debra Dixon reinforced the importance of integrity and honesty during a special assembly, Polsen said.

The school, which was rated exemplary by the state in 2009 and 2010, has set up a campus task force that will come up with ways to "reinforce the value of strong character and ethical behavior," district officials said.

monica.rhor@chron.com