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BY ALLAN VESTAL

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

You're watching multisource U.S. news analysis from Newsy

It sounds like the plot of a bad movie - but a Long Island school district is investigating a group of students for allegedly plotting an SAT “cheating ring.”

KPTV: “Some teenagers are accused of paying college students to take the SAT for them. Examine administrators confirm they are checking on the cheating ring.  They reportedly hired someone from a top midwestern university to take the college admission test.”

The students are reportedly seniors at Long Island’s prestigious John Miller Great Neck North High School -- which counts Francis Ford Coppola and designer Kenneth Cole among its alumni.

A junior at the school tells WCBS he's not surprised at the allegations.

"When kids have access to so much money to pay other kids to take it for them, it's gonna happen."


But another junior tells WABC that cheating is no more acceptable in Great Neck than anywhere else.

"People think that because we have money, that we're allowed to do this and this is acceptable in our community. That's so not true."

Observers say the scandal proves a larger trend nationwide. For The Huffington Post - David Callahan - editor of CheatingCulture.com - says this might be a good time to reflect on the stress applying to college puts on high school students.

"An SAT cheating scandal at one of the top-ranked high schools in America is almost certain to provoke one of those periodic moments of soul searching about how today's youth are so stressed out and anxious about their futures that they'll chuck their ethics out the window to get ahead."

But a contributing writer for New City Patch puts at least some of the blame on the business of standardized testing.

"It seems to me that the biggest winners from the standardized testing hype are The College Board, which charges $47 per test and encourages students to take it several times, and the test prep companies and tutors. None of this feels like it’s for the good of the student."

The Educational Testing Service says out of two million tests -- only a few thousand per year are seen as “questionable.” 

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