Parents at Cape Elizabeth High School shared students’ old class notes and tests with each other to give their children an unfair advantage, the principal said.
In a letter to families, Principal John Springer said he received reports of parents sharing materials, including “binders of class notes and assessments from previous years” with each other and their children.
He called the practice unacceptable and disappointing, but he didn’t provide details on those involved.
“The vast majority of our students work extremely hard at their academics, and anything that provides advantages to some skews the efforts of others,” Springer said in his letter, a copy of which was shared with the Press Herald Monday night. “If students have access to tests and quizzes prior to these assessments, it not only undermines the core work teachers do, but it also jeopardizes the students’ true access to knowledge and skills.”
Springer received reports of exam sharing from multiple parents, but “we weren’t given specifics on particular students or families” involved, he said on a Tuesday morning phone call. No students have been disciplined, he said.
Moving forward, teachers will create multiple versions of their tests and some finished exams may not be allowed to leave the school, Springer said. In such cases, students will be permitted to review their scores on site but not to take their materials home.
“Creating meaningful assessments takes time, and although this may seem simplistic to some, it is not,” he said in the letter.
The scope of the conduct remains unclear. Springer said he was not told which classes’ materials were shared.
“We know there is a significant amount of pressure to do well in high school, particularly in this community,” Springer said in his letter. “While we continue to support students through rigorous academic expectations in their preparation for the next steps after graduation, we also impress upon them the necessity of honesty and academic integrity.”
Superintendent Christopher Record said he can understand how some parents might view sharing old materials as simply helping their children prepare for school, but he emphasized that doing so creates an unfair advantage that ultimately undermines their education.
“People really care about how they do in school. That’s true anywhere. I think in some cases, students feel under a lot of pressure,” Record said.
Record hopes the community can have “a fresh start” following the letter. “This is a way for all of us to have a conversation together,” he said.
“It really wasn’t about drilling down to single names, but really (moving on) as a whole school community,” he said on a Tuesday afternoon phone call. “We don’t want this to be a mark against our whole school community at all.”
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