How to Talk About Cheating in Your Classroom

In a recent episode of Answers May Vary, we talked about strategies for handling cheating in your classroom, especially when it comes to day-to-day assignments (we covered cheating on tests in another episode). An essential foundation for any successful strategy addressing academic honesty is a direct discussion with students about cheating in your classroom. You might be tempted to assume we all have the same working definition of cheating. We do not. We developed our first week of school talk over the years, in response to both a changing educational climate and shifting student behaviors, and thought it could be helpful to share a basic outline with you in case it’s a discussion you need to have with your class and you’re not sure where to start.

We’ve already mentioned the first step: have a direct discussion about it. Cheating happens, we all know it happens, and if it’s important to you, it’s worth discussing with students. At the most basic level, it puts students on notice that you don’t tolerate this behavior and there will be consequences for it, allowing you to start the year with everyone on the same page. As cheating becomes more prevalent, however, and more of our instruction goes online, some students genuinely (and some not so genuinely) don’t know their behavior constitutes cheating; others have done it (and get away with it) so often, they no longer recognize it as a problem.

It’s important to explain to students why it matters that they do their own work. We want them to understand this isn’t an arbitrary rule but one we believe is important for specific reasons. Of course, we point out that it’s a moral issue and we value integrity more than a perfect GPA. But this also leads into a more important discussion: we want students to learn. Cheating is about grades and pressure and expectations and, and, and. Cheating is not about learning. Learning is the long-term benefit of school. Cheating is a short-term solution to a temporary problem. Learning requires students to engage with the material themselves. It’s impossible to measure students’ true progress if they aren’t demonstrating what they are actually capable of doing or already know. Finally, we explain there are significant consequences in college and adult life if they are caught cheating. High school is a place to learn about the adult world with a safety net, but that net is removed once students graduate, and the sooner they learn that, the more successful they will be.

As we discussed in our introduction, it’s important to clearly and explicitly define what you consider to be cheating. While most teachers agree that directly copying another student’s work and passing it off as your own is dishonest, we may each have different feelings about using the Internet to find answers or collaborating with classmates (in person or on a Google Doc). Because different teachers have different feelings about these behaviors, it’s important that we’re clear about our expectations.

Be sure to also clearly and explicitly define the consequences for students who are caught cheating before it becomes an issue. While this doesn’t always deter students, it does make things easier when an instance of cheating occurs because you can refer back to this discussion. There are no surprises.

In our last years teaching AP, we learned that, as technology evolves, some of our students become, let’s say, craftier in their efforts to avoid doing original work. We dealt with several cases where students logged into a friend’s Google Drive without their knowledge and stole work to pass off as their own. Students need to be taught that, as high school students, their academic work is the most valuable thing they own, and they need to take steps to protect it. Not only does this include obvious things like changing default passwords and not leaving their Chromebooks unattended, but it also includes not sharing passwords with friends. Students innocently share their passwords with friends and log into accounts on a friend’s device, assuming that of course their friends can be trusted, but this creates a temptation that is often too tough for a stressed out teenager to resist. We always explained that we may be close friends who share all kinds of things, including work passwords, but even we don’t share bank account passwords. Even with the people you trust most, there are some things it’s just not wise to share.

Finally, it’s important to teach students the difference between collaboration (or acceptable Internet research) and cheating. We explain to students that analyzing literature is challenging, and we, too, need to look things up or talk them out from time to time. In this digital age, it’s not only a losing battle to tell students they can’t use the Internet to help figure out an answer, but it’s also not really fair given the Internet’s value when used responsibly. We give students suggestions like having discussions with their Chromebooks closed and then independently writing their responses (perhaps even finding multiple quotations to support a point instead of relying on the same ones). The same thing applies to the Internet: read, make some notes, then close the tab and craft your own response. We encourage students to go back to the text and re-read it with their new understanding, not only helping them to own that understanding but also ensuring they are double-checking the interpretation’s accuracy. This is also an opportunity to teach your kind, helpful students the difference between helping a friend and giving them the answers. We encourage these students to talk through a confusing question or two with their friend in need, not just share their Google Doc and assume it will be used only “as an example.” We emphasize that even if they have good intentions, they, too, will receive a consequence if a friend turns in work they knowingly provided access to.

This discussion doesn’t guarantee students will not cheat, because let’s be real, some cheaters gonna cheat, but it does establish clear expectations for you and your students so no one is surprised by the fallout when cheating does occur. We have found this discussion to be most fruitful and significant for students who either help others cheat or are indifferent to cheating. The way we frame the discussion seems to resonate with them most, which is helpful, because they’re the ones who are more likely able to stop cheaters than we are as teachers. Most importantly, we help our students learn how to navigate ethical issues and social situations; these are soft skills very rarely taught explicitly in school, but so necessary for success in life. When we give students tools to navigate these situations, we teach them lessons that will last far beyond a particular text or unit.

Do you address cheating at the beginning of each semester or only at the beginning of the year? What issues with academic dishonesty are you seeing that we haven’t addressed? How do you make your expectations clear to students? This is an ever-present, ever-evolving issue, one that is much easier to navigate together. Reach out to us at hello@threeheads.works or DM us @threeheads.works to continue the conversation!