The Higher Education Reauthorization Act requires "an institution that offers distance education to have processes through which the institution establishes that the student who registers in a distance education course or program is the same student who participates in and completes the program and receives the academic credit." This language is designed to limit academic dishonesty by assuring that learners enrolling in a course are those completing assignments and tests.

Not only to meet the requirements of the Higher Education Reauthorization Act, but in an effort to insure integrity schools are interested in making sure that the person taking the test is the person enrolled in the course and that they are only using allowable resources.

Read this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education reporting that the language in the reauthorized Higher Educaton Act had left distance educators worried they would have to buy expensive technology to ensure that students didn't have other people take their tests, but proposed regulations on implementing the law have revealed that simpler techniques will be sufficient.

Many schools current regard the use of a human proctor as the best method for ensuring authenticity and integrity. However, schools often have policies in place which state criteria which a proctor should meet - i.e. school principal, pastor, attorney, etc. A weakness is that a student could find a person who meets the criteria yet who has a relationship with the student thereby compromising the testing process.

Schools are able to use SmarterProctors to find neutral testing proctors within proximity of the student. The school then communicates to the student the contact information for the proctor.

Our proctors come primarily from two sources: (1) online faculty members from other institutions, (2) notary publics. The company which provides SmarterProctors also provides FacultyFinder.com which is a large, searchable database of online faculty. These faculty have been asked if they are willing to proctor high stakes exams for students of other institutions. In addition to these faculty we have also partnered with the National Notary Association to enroll notary publics in the SmarterProctors system.

The proctor first authenticates that it is the student by a picture ID (driver's license, school ID card, etc.). The proctor then provides a place for the student to take the exam. This may involve providing Internet access for a web-based exam. The proctor periodically monitors the student to ensure that they are only using allowable resources. Finally using the instructions provided by the instructor the proctor returns the test to the faculty member and destroys any existing copies of the test.

Some do and some do not. This is a variable which is viewable in the proctor profile. Some of the proctors in the system have classified themselves as "mobile proctors" meaning that for an additional fee they will travel to the student's location to administer the exam.

Students benefit from having a user friendly process of identifying a neutral test proctor who can provide an appropriate testing environment to allow the student do demonstrate their competency thorugh an exam.

Schools benefit from having a structured process of identifying neutral, professional testing proctors. This allows schools to not only meet the requirements of the Higher Education Reauthorization Act, but to create a culture of academic integrity which reflects positively on the educational institution.

Proctors benefit from the service in that they have served the greater good and may have been appropriately compensated for their services. Proctors also benefit by having an established system of communicating with the student and faculty member.

The following standards of appropriate practice serve as a model for testing proctors, faculty and students to ensure a smooth proess and foster integrity in the testing experience.

• Proctors should provide a clean, quiet, appropriate space for the testing session.
• Proctors should never leave a testing session unsupervised.
• Proctors should observe test takers without being obtrusive.
• Proctors should ensure time limitations for testing sessions.
• Proctors should contact the faculty member immediately if testing violations are observed.
• Proctors should be diligent, timely and detail oriented in their communications with faculty and students.
• Proctors should be diligent in the promotion of honest, ingetrity and fairness in the testing process.
• Proctors should safeguard the integrity of all exams before and after the testing session.
• Proctors should respect the confidentiality of all students.
• Proctors should interact with all students in a corteous, fair, professional and nondiscriminatory manner.
• Proctors should be considerate and fair in the setting and collection of proctoring fees if applicable.
• Proctors should provide access as needed to ensure that ADA requirements are met as needed.
• Proctors should make referrals of others to SmarterProctors as appropriate.