The Assessment Center is now requiring all students to show photo IDs before taking placement tests.

The change of policy was enacted on July 5, but according to Bob Flores, manager of the Assessment Center, the change had been in the works for the last year. “The cheating usually involves one student taking a test for another,” he said.

Flores hopes the new policy will deter students from cheating on placement tests, but says “I realize the reality is that a small contingent of students may continue to cheat on placement tests, exams, reports, etc and that the adjacent reality is that though other students may know about it, they do not want to break the code of silence.”

The code of silence was broken last January, when The Oak Leaf ran a front-page story on placement test cheating, in which Flores stated, “We are going to have to suffer the inconvenience [of ID cards].”

Placement tests are taken for Math, English, and Chemistry classes. While there had never been any reports of cheating before July 5, Flores thinks the situation will improve. “It is a problem that we all shoulder to some extent when people want something corrected but others are not willing to help solve the problem,” he said.