Maintaining Exam Integrity During COVID-19
PAEA is committed to helping programs maintain the security, validity, and integrity of exams. This requires PAEA, programs, and their students to adhere to specific codes of conduct. There are proactive strategies programs can adopt while administering an exam to a student at home to help maintain communication and ensure that expectations are clear. While students are temporarily home during the COVID-19 pandemic, we offer the following strategies to help administer PAEA’s End of Rotation™ exam as well as other exams that your program administers.
We’ve provided an FAQ on the waived proctor policies for End of Rotation exams to help you plan accordingly.
Note: PACKRAT® has always been available in a proctored or unproctored mode, onsite or remote, within a scheduled testing window. See instructions here.
Prior to test day:
- Arrange for institutional IT staff to assist students with troubleshooting problems if necessary.
- Ensure that students have the necessary equipment, including a laptop or desktop computer, camera for observation (if required), and high-speed internet. Ask students to find a quiet place where they will not be interrupted for the duration of the exam.
- Clearly communicate the exam’s start and end times and whether any breaks will be allowed.
- Clearly specify if any resources, including books and notes, will be allowed.
- Provide full written instructions regarding the honor code.
- Assign more proctors than usual. We recommend 6-10 students to 1 proctor. This allows a proctor to readily manage student issues.
- Create a list of student email addresses and cell phone numbers to communicate with students prior to and on exam day. This enables investigations and allows for quick and clear responses. Ask students to have their phones available, recognize your phone number, and respond during the exam if you call or text. Your honor code or exam instructions should also explain that phones should only be used during an exam to contact a proctor in the event of a technical issue.
Your institution’s academic policy should be updated and in place. The consequences for violating the integrity of any assessment tool should be clearly defined. This is when our partnership matters most.
Visit the proctor resources page for upcoming remote proctoring resources, including: 1) student and proctor checklists and 2) a “best practices” instructional video.
If you have questions, you please contact the Assessment Team directly via:
- Chat
- Email: exams@PAEAonline.org
- Phone: 301-617-7820
