ABSTRACT
While test-cheating behavior has been acknowledged as an issue in high-stakes testing for some time, recent news coverage has brought it to the forefront of the minds of assessment professionals, and everyone else, across the nation. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (March 2012) published a report identifying school districts across the nation that had unlikely patterns in their test scores, such as a large increase one year followed by a large decrease the next year. Until this time, the articles garnering most of the attention have focused on the use of erasure analysis to provide evidence of test-taking misconduct. Despite the prevalence of stories regarding erasure analysis, the majority of states are not conducting it. A survey of states by USA Today (September 13, 2011) found that only 20 states and Washington DC conducted an erasure analysis on all paper-and-pencil tests during the 2010–2011 school year (Bello ampentity Toppo, 2011). An explanation given as to why one was not performed included the belief that their state does not have a cheating problem. Another explanation is the lack of money; some states have had a history of conducting an erasure analysis for many years and then halted the practice due to budget constraints.
