Survey: Cell Phones Used For Cheating

According to a report by USA Today, a significant number of U.S. teenagers say they know of students using their cell phones to cheat in class, a recent study says.

Pollster Joel Benenson said the survey found that more than 50 percent of the 1,013 teens asked reported knowing someone at their school taking part in such electronic cheating, USA Today said Thursday.

The reported cell phone cheating included text-messaging friends answers in class and storing information on the phones.

The study, conducted on behalf of the Common Sense Media educational company, also found teens sent an average of 440 text messages a day with 110 of those messages taking place during class.

Only about half of teens say either of the practices is a "serious offense," suggesting that students may have developed different personal standards about handwritten information vs. material stored on cellphones, says pollster Joel Benenson. "The message about doing those kinds of things on the cellphone may not be reinforced the same way," he told USA Today.

The poll, which found 84 percent of the surveyed teens had cell phones, took place online in May and June and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

(June 18, 2009)

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