双语:国外考试舞弊风波又起 SAT考生成绩推迟公布
2014年10月30日,美国华盛顿邮报发表题为“Cheating concerns force delay in SAT scores forSouth Koreans and
Chinese”的文章,报道中国和韩国籍考生的SAT成绩推迟公布情况。北京新东方北美部美本本地项目田甜老师就华盛顿邮报原文进行了中文翻译。
华盛顿邮报英文原文——
Cheating concerns force delay in SAT scores for South Koreans and
Chinese
Concerns about possible cheating on the SAT in Asia have led test overseers
to withhold scores for students from China and South Korea who took the college
admission exam nearly three weeks ago.
The nature and extent of the alleged security breach were unclear Thursday
because the College Board and its contractor, the Educational Testing Service,
revealed few details about the unfolding investigation. But the score-reporting
delay could affect thousands of students seeking admission to U.S. colleges as
November deadlines loom for early applications.
“Based on specific, reliable information, we have placed the scores of all
students who are current residents of Korea or China and sat for the Oct. 11
international administration of the SAT on hold while we conduct an
administrative review,” the College Board and ETS said in a joint statement.
“The review is being conducted to ensure that illegal actions by individuals or
organizations do not prevent the majority of test-takers who have worked hard to
prepare for the exam from receiving valid and accurate scores.”
An international admissions counselor and the leader of an admissions and
counseling network told The Washington Post that some students at test centers
in other Asian countries reportedly were caught checking smartphones to get
cribbed answers to SAT questions while taking the exam.
The alleged cheating cast a spotlight on a critical academic pipeline.
China and South Korea are the top two suppliers of foreign undergraduates in the
United States. There were more than 93,000 Chinese and 38,000 South Korean
undergraduates in U.S. colleges in the 2012-2013 school year, according to the
Institute of International Education.
The College Board has declined to say how many students per foreign country
take the SAT. But it is likely that most Chinese and South Korean applicants do.
For many, Oct. 11 was a key test date because it was the last administration of
the test before early applications start to come due on Nov. 1.
Matthew Lee, of Fairfax County, an education consultant for college-bound
students in Korea, said his clients were “devastated” when they heard the Oct.
11 results were delayed. Some worry that scores will be invalidated and they
will have to take the test over again.
“They worked so hard over the summer,” he said. Lee said some parents
wonder if their children should register for the test in another country, in
case colleges harbor any suspicions about scores from tests taken in South
Korea.
The College Board, a nonprofit organization based in New York, sought to
allay concerns. It said scores “will be returned as quickly as possible” in
November. “The College Board will make universities aware of the circumstances
and can supply students with a letter to share with the schools to which they
are applying,” the organization said in a statement.
At George Washington University in the District of Columbia, which recruits
heavily from China and South Korea, a senior official said that a delay in score
reporting would not disadvantage applicants from those countries. “We don't want
prospective students who've done nothing wrong to be worried about a negative
impact on their applications,” said Laurie Koehler, GWU's senior associate
provost for enrollment management.
The College Board said the SAT is given in more than 175 countries, at more
than 1,000 testing centers outside the United States. The only testing allowed
in China, officials said, is at international schools. That means Chinese
students typically go to Hong Kong or another country to take the SAT.
Scores are being withheld for all Chinese and Korean residents, according
to the College Board, regardless of where they took the test.
College Board and ETS officials said the rules for test administration are
no different whether it is given in San Francisco or Seoul. Cellphones and other
portable computing devices are prohibited, with an exception for approved
calculators during the mathematics assessment. Test proctors enforce rules,
sometimes with help from private security firms.
Exactly what prompted the investigation is unclear. The College Board/ETS
statement on Wednesday denounced “organizations that seek to illegally obtain
test materials for their own profit, to the ultimate detriment of all students.”
That indicated a concern that test questions were circulating illicitly in
advance or during the exam.
Paul Kanarek, a senior vice president for the test-preparation company
Princeton Review, which has operations in Asia, said the educational culture in
China and South Korea puts a huge premium on test scores. He said some tutors
will try any tactic, including stealing questions in advance, to help their
students get an edge. “There is enormous pressure and incentive to take
advantage by hook and by crook,” Kanarek said.
On Thursday, there were signs that test integrity questions were being
raised outside of South Korea and China.
Ffiona Rees, president of the Overseas Association for College Admission
Counseling, wrote in an e-mail:
“From what I understand from our Facebook group, there were several cases
where our members (not in China or Korea) found significant instances of student
fraud - including a student with entire pages of the SAT scanned on the phone.
The student had the entire test with answers and essay already completed.”
Joachim Ekstrom, a counselor at NIST International School in Bangkok - a
site where some Chinese visitors took the test - wrote in an e-mail that one
student was caught using an iPhone.
“Her mistake was that she checked the notes on her phone during testing,
and one of the proctors noticed it,” Ekstrom wrote. “As I searched her phone I
saw that it was full of messages including the day's 'correct' test answers for
each section.”
Tom Ewing, a spokesman for ETS, said he could not discuss specific reports
of possible cheating. He also declined to elaborate on the scope of the
investigation. “We're really not ... detailing how many students are affected,”
he said.
Michael Alison Chandler contributed to this report.
舞弊风波起 中韩SAT考生成绩推迟公布
亚洲地区SAT考试恐涉及舞弊,相关方面已将近三周前参加考试的中国和韩国籍考生的成绩推迟公布。
直至周四(10月30日),所谓的密保环节漏洞在具体情况和范围上仍不明晰,主要原因是College Board和其合约方Educational
Testing
Service(美国教育考试服务中心)对此事件的相关调查缄默不语。然而,SAT分数推迟公布将会影响成千上万计划在11月提交美国高校早申请的考生。
“基于明确可靠的消息,我们决定推迟公布于10月11日参与SAT考试的韩国籍和中国籍考生的成绩,并对诸类成绩实施行政复议,”College
Board和ETS在早前的一份共同声明中表示。“行政复议的目的是确保少数个人和组织在考试中的非法行径不会对绝大多数真正付出极大努力的考生取得准确有效的成绩造成阻碍。”
一位来自某招生顾问公司的高级国际招生顾问向华盛顿邮报透露:在一些亚洲国家的考场中,一些考生在考试中被发现使用手机舞弊,利用手机获取SAT试卷答案。
涉嫌舞弊折射出一个重大的学术人才管线问题。在美国的外籍本科留学生中,中国和韩国籍学生人数占据前两名。根据国际教育协会(Institute of
International
Education)的数据,在2012-2013学年,美高校中的中国籍本科留学生人数为93,000;韩国籍学生为38,000。
College
Board虽已不愿公布参加SAT考试的外籍学生人数所占比例,但不难猜测,中国和韩国籍考生应是最多的。对于很多考生而言,10月11日的考试非常关键,因为这是最后一场能赶上11月1日“早申请”的考试。
Matthew Lee是来自Fairfax
County的一名教育咨询顾问,他为韩国考生提供咨询,他说他的客户在得知10月11日考试成绩推迟公布时都伤心欲绝。很多人担心分数将会是无效的,而他们不得不再次参加考试。
“他们整个暑假都非常刻苦,”他说。Lee还说道一些家长疑惑是否应让孩子去其他国家考试,以防高校对于所有在韩国考试的考生所获成绩都有所怀疑。
College
Board,总部位于纽约,是一家非营利性组织,该组织早前试图稳定人们的情绪,曾表示在11月份,分数“将会最快得以公布”。“College
Board将会告知各高校相关情况并向学生提供一份信件以向报考学校说明情况。”早前的一份声明中该组织如是说。
位于哥伦比亚特区的乔治华盛顿大学(George Washington University
),每年都从中国和韩国招收大量学生。一位该校官员表示推迟公布的成绩并不会对这些国家的考生不利。乔治华盛顿大学负责招生的高级教务长Laurie
Koehler说道: “我们并不希望那些无任何过错的、有潜力的学生担心在他们的申请中会有负面影响。”
College Board表示除美国本土外,SAT考试在逾175个国家,超过1,000个考试中心进行。College
Board官员称,在中国内陆,仅有国际学校允许组织SAT考试。这意味着中国学生一般会去香港或其他国家参加SAT考试。
根据College Board的说明,所有中国籍和韩国籍考生的成绩都将被推迟公布,无论他们在何地参加考试。
College
Board和ETS官方称不论是在旧金山还是首尔考试,考场纪律是一样的。除了数学测试中可以使用的计算器外,手机及其他便携式电子设备都是严令禁止带入考场的。考场秩序和纪律由考场的监考人员确保,有时也会借助其他安保机构的帮助。
引起分数复议的起因仍不明确。College
Board和ETS在周三的声明中谴责了“为一己私利通过非法手段获得考试资料,极度危害所有考生的某些组织。”这引起了人们的担忧:是否试题在考试前或考试进行中发生了泄露?
在亚洲也设有分机构的考试辅导公司Princeton Review的高级副总裁----Paul
Kanarek称:中国和韩国的教育文化十分看重考试分数。他表示一些老师会用各种方法,包括提前偷取试题,来帮助学生取得优势。“有足够多的压力和动力使这些人不择手段地获得利益,”Kanarek如是说。
周四,有迹象表明,在韩国和中国之外,考试公平性问题调查已展开。
美国大学招生咨询协会国外项目主席Ffiona Rees在早前的邮件中写道:
“我从Facebook中得知,在几起事件中,我们的工作人员在一些地区(不包含中国和韩国)发现了学生舞弊的行为,其中,有位学生的手机上含有全部的SAT试卷扫描照片。该学生有全套的试题,答案和作文都是已写好的。”
Joachim
Ekstrom写过一封邮件称有考生在考试现场被发现使用iPhone。Ekstrom是NIST国际学校的顾问,该学校位于曼谷,一些中国学生在此考试。
“是这样,她在考试期间查看手机,有监考员注意到了,”Ekstrom写道,“当我检查她的手机时,我看到手机里全是短信,里面有当天试卷每个部分的正确答案。”
ETS发言人Tom Ewing表示他无法详述相关舞弊情况,他也拒绝解释此次调查的影响范围。“我们真的无法详述究竟有多少考生受到影响,”他说道。
Michael Alison Chandler对本文卓有贡献。
页:
[1]