Academic Dishonesty Among High School Students

Abstract

Academic dishonesty is still a challenge for many school districts. Students have been more creative and inventive in finding ways to evade being caught by educators. Many students spend more time planning ways to cheat to enhance their outcomes than they actually spend studying and preparing for the test. There is a spectrum of cheating and some students think it is acceptable if the teacher allows it and doesn’t monitor the classroom well enough to discourage cheating. Along the spectrum, other students feel it is acceptable to work together, share answers or use outside resources if they feel the teacher is being too hard or giving too much work. Technology has made it more difficult to monitor academic dishonesty and many websites even encourage cheating by giving in-depth details for cheating and not getting caught. It is a challenge for school administrators to enforce student handbook guidelines regarding academic cheating if the rules and expectations are not clearly defined.