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The Boston Globe

December 17, 1994, Saturday, City Edition

Redesign of computerized admission tests is urged

The news that students could cheat on the computerized version of the national graduate school admission exam because the questions are recycled so often they can be memorized has some people questioning the new high-tech look of the testing industry.

"Before we think about using sexy technology to replace the old methods, we'd better understand the implications," said Jonathan Grayer, president of Kaplan Educational Centers, the test preparation company that this week disclosed problems with the test.

The Graduate Record Examination, a test given each year to 420,000 potential graduate students, can be taken with pencil and paper on five test dates, or on computer any day.

But this week, Kaplan announced that three of its employees had gone undercover, taken the computerized test and memorized questions, then reconstructed most of the test.

Educational Testing Service, which administers the GRE, announced that it would shut down its daily computerized testing from Dec. 23 through Jan. 3 and would add questions to the test.

Robert L. Albright, an ETS executive vice president, said there was no evidence of widespread cheating, and that previous GRE scores will stand.

"This is not a major security issue. We see this as a minor glitch," he said, adding that his company, and many university deans, continue to support computer testing.

Albright suggested that Kaplan had a financial stake in discrediting the test because computerized testing (and test preparation software packages) compete with courses like Kaplan's, which cost several hundred dollars.

But Grayer denied that. "We're not for or against computerized testing. We just can't have a test that's so easily violated."

Kaplan officials gave one copy of their reconstructed test to ETS. Another is locked in the vault of Kaplan's accountant.

Advocates tout the ease of scheduling and the instant results of computerized testing.
But some observers say security has been an issue since the tests were introduced in 1992 and that they may have been rushed into use too quickly.

"They may well have been pressed to make the conversion prematurely," said Lyle V. Jones, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of North Carolina who studies ability measurement. But he says computerized testing is clearly the way the No. 2 pencil is pointing.

Copyright 1994 Globe Newspaper Company

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