Fairfax school experiments with letting cheaters retake tests

By Donna St. George

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 17, 2010; 10:34 PM

The Fairfax County high school that asked teachers to all but banish F's from its recent report cards has been experimenting with an approach that would allow students caught cheating to retake tests instead of receiving zeros.

West Potomac High School Principal Cliff Hardison last month instructed teachers to allow cheaters to retake tests. The idea was that cheating should "result in a disciplinary consequence separate from an academic consequence," Hardison said in a Nov. 5 e-mail to teachers.

Later, after complaints from parents and teachers, he reverted to the old policy of using zeros but also gave teachers the option of offering retakes, according to the Nov. 5 e-mail. It said that individual departments would be discussing the issue as the school makes broader changes this year to its grading system.

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