6 ID, Please: A Case of SAT Fraud

John L. Miller Great Neck North high school, also known as Great Neck North High School, is a public high school located in Long Island, New York (Bennington Banner, 2011). It is known as a school of high achievers that sends almost all its students to college. The student body is predominantly white (69%), with significant Asian (20%) and Hispanic (7%) populations. About 25% of students are classified as “economically disadvantaged” (New York State Education Department, 2023). Despite some economic diversity, Great Neck is generally known as a wealthy community (Bennington Banner, 2011). Great Neck North’s reputation as a high-achieving school creates an intense academic environment: with most students aiming for top colleges, there is significant pressure to excel academically and on standardized tests like the SAT.Sam Eshagoff, a 2010 graduate of Great Neck North, was a 19-year-old known for being a smart, accomplished student. He also had a reputation for his high SAT scores. In 2011, Sam was enrolled at Emory University in Atlanta after completing his freshman year at the University of Michigan (Solnik, 2011). His stellar academic record resulted in him running a scheme where he took the SAT for sixteen students over the course of three years.

A struggling student approached Sam, saying “Yo, you’re good on your SATs and I’m not,” and simply asked how much it would take for him to take the SAT on his behalf (CBS News, 2012). After his first attempt he realized how easy it was to cheat the system. For Eshagoff it was a quick and easy way to make money, and this one favor soon turned into a continuous cheating operation.

Eshagoff forged high school IDs by altering the picture with his own and changing the name and date of birth to match his clients. For female students, he would only agree if they had a unisex name, to reduce the risk of getting caught (CBS News, 2012). To avoid any suspicion Eshagoff deliberately went to test centers where he knew he would not be recognized (CBS News, 2012). His clientele expanded through word of mouth and referrals, and he charged between $1,500 and $2,500 per test (Solnik, 2011). Eshagoff repeatedly scored in the 97th percentile or higher for his client, and believed that by securing high scores, he was giving these students a “new lease on life”, a path to better universities, new careers, and transformed futures (CBS News, 2012).

The SAT

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is an exam that many universities based in the United States, Australia, Canada, India, and many other countries refer to when determining the acceptance of new students into their institutions. The College Board is responsible for determining the structure, administration, and application of the SAT in the United States, while the Educational Testing Service (ETS) develops, administers, publishes, and scores the exam (Knox, 2024). The paper-based exam, which is the version that Eshagoff took, consisted of a reading, a writing, and a math section, though at the end of 2023, the paper-based exam was replaced with a digital version of the exam, which has two sections for reading, writing, and math (Manjunath, 2024).Despite the dependence that many universities have on the SAT scores, it has been the target of criticism. Critics state that the SAT does not provide an adequate measurement of a student’s success rate in college or university. There is also evidence suggesting a correlation between the income of a student’s family and their scores on the exam (The JBHE Foundation, Inc, 2009).

Investigations began after Great Neck North teachers heard rumors that there were students paying people to take the SAT for them. After conducting their investigation, teachers discovered that six Great Neck North students had large differences between their previous academic work and their SAT score (Los Angeles Times, 2011).Eshagoff was one of the first individuals charged for the crime (CBS New York, 2012). The investigation led to the conclusion that Eshaghoff had taken the SAT exam on behalf of 16 students. The District Attorney prosecuting Eshagoff, Kathleen Rice, took it upon herself to further question the integrity of the exam itself, and why it was easy for him to get away with impersonating test takers. From Rice’s perspective this was a huge fraud, with lots of money changing hands, and there were high stakes involved including forgery, and criminal impersonation. Rice believed it was fraud on many different levels, but most importantly against the kids who play by the rules (CBS News, 2011).One of the first actions Rice took was to challenge the College Board about the security and loopholes the SAT system had. The College Board would not agree to any extra security measures that needed to be taken as they simply believed it was an isolated problem. Rice then had to expand her investigations, and bring proof to the board that this cheating ring was not an isolated incident, that “it was more pervasive than they were claiming it was” (Edelman, 2019).New York state law prevented ETS from telling schools about cases of suspected cheating. ETS said they would, “continue to evaluate and implement test security enhancements that protect the integrity of SAT scores while not discouraging any student or group of students from pursuing their college dreams” (Today Show, 2011). Rice demanded ETS to make other immediate security changes like matching photos and handwriting.

As of December 1, 2011, twenty teenagers throughout five different Long Island high schools were arrested (Anderson, J., et. al, 2011). Five were charged for taking the tests for other students, while the remaining fifteen were accused of paying other students sums of up to $3,600 to take the exams, and face “misdemeanor charges” (2011). Four students were charged with scheming to defraud, falsifying business records, and criminal impersonation. Eshagoff himself took a plea deal that required community service, including tutoring low-income students on how to take the SAT (CBS News, 2011).ETS agreed to make changes after facing significant media scrutiny. Students taking the SAT exam are now required to submit a photo of themselves prior to taking the test, which must match the image on their ID. “A copy of the photo will be printed on the admission ticket mailed to each student, and will also appear on the test site roster” (ABC30, 2012). On the exam itself, slight changes were made, including more test questions, an overall ban or collection of cell phones, heightened security protocols at testing centers, and using collected data to continually analyze the testing behaviors of students. Eshagoff himself also provided a suggestion for improving the security of testing centers, stating, “If the College Board required students to take the test at their own respective high schools, it would be a lot more difficult to impersonate people.” (Goldsmith, 2020). District attorney Kathleen Rice pushed for many reforms. One included, “preventing a cheater from retaking the test for a year, and mandatory notification from high schools to applied colleges, when students are caught cheating” (CBS, 2012). This reform was to be implemented across the United States.