“When my teacher went to go pick up my APUSH final, the Testing Center said they lost it,” junior Amari Witt* said. “It ended up being found two months after the semester was over and grades were due.”
Many students who use the Testing Center shared similar complaints about misplaced tests and frequent distractions. Students interviewed claimed the Testing Center’s disorganization creates a chaotic environment that defeats the purpose of small-setting accommodations and allows rampant cheating.
Many students described the Testing Center as loud and unorganized during peak times, like finals week, failing to provide students with a less distracting environment mandated per their accommodations.
Nearly a third of M-A students have either an Individualized Education Program, 504 plan, or both, and one of the most common accommodations is taking assessments in alternative settings.
“A lot of people have accommodations, and the proctors just can’t handle the volume,” senior Meghan Lam said. Last semester, M-A needed to use additional classrooms to seat the large number of students requiring an alternative setting.
The Testing Center’s intended peaceful environment is often disturbed by noise from nearby classrooms, the Green, and bustling school lunch lines.
“The room gets loud anytime someone comes in, finishes a test, or when neighboring rooms make noise, and that can be super distracting during testing,” Witt said.
These distractions worsen during finals weeks when more students use the Testing Center. Most of the additional classrooms used for finals week testing this year had around 20 to 30 people and were often louder and more distracting than regular classrooms. The average classroom size at M-A in the 2022-23 school year was 20 students.
“The room was full,” junior Gabby Rothstein said. “Like, over 30 people there. It was packed.” Rothstein took her math, history, and Spanish finals in the Testing Center and was there every day of the week.
During finals, the Testing Center and other alternative setting classrooms had students starting and finishing tests at different times. Many students found this distracting and overwhelming. “I started my English final, and proctors were still calling out names and starting other tests,” Lam said.
“It was never silent in D-24, and it seemed like something was always going on,” senior Miller Scott, who also took his finals in the Testing Center, said. “It was very chaotic.”
“I would have chosen to take my finals in my classroom if I had been allowed to stay for extra time because it was much quieter,” Rothstein said.
The M-A Chronicle reached out to school administration and Testing Center staff but neither responded before the publication of this story.
The Testing Center has rules in place to prevent cheating, including mandatory cell phone and smartwatch pockets and dividers on adjacent desks. Despite the implementation of these physical measures, interviewed students said cheating still goes largely unchecked.
Proctors are often focused on multiple tests at once and are unable to monitor students as closely as teachers in a regular classroom. Proctors often don’t check what materials students are bringing to their desks.
“It was clear that people could cheat,” Scott said. “Any given person could have brought notes or other materials to their desks and gotten away with it.”
“When you’re taking the test, there’s no one actively walking around or looking over your shoulder. Also, you’re not facing the proctor, so if you wanted to take out notes or something, you definitely could,” Lam said.
“Out of my 120 students, I have around 40 students with accommodations,” English department head Liane Strub said. “If you actually have ADHD, you need to be in an environment where you’re not distracted.”
*Amari Witt is a journalist for the M-A Chronicle.
