I have this concern about the potential for cheating on the Super Speed 1000 reading game. As we all know, students can get a prize for every 5 personal records that they break. Now if I'm some sort of smart but dishonest student I might say "I really want that prize and I know how to cheat the system."

Here's what I mean: lets say the two partners agree to go relatively slow whenever they do super speed at a new starting place to set a record (we're talking that they wont go all out). When it comes time to then break that record they then agree to now go really really fast. This insures that they will always break a personal record no matter what.

I know, your all probably thinking "Come on Marc, just monitor them for integrity or something." Ya, but that's hard to do with a room filled with 30 plus students!

I'm real concerned, please help. Oh, and tell me if I'm getting the system wrong or if I am not understanding the rules correctly. Thanks to all.

In general, we don't give prizes for every 5 times students break records unless we are using the "Power Olympics" format (see the download under "Free Downloads"). The reward of breaking personal records, we've found, is reward enough. So, if you're concerned about cheating ... don't use rewards. Also, you can check several pairs of students by walking around the room while the game is going on. In addition, you'll develop a feel for who might be your shady students and can test them independently. The problem of cheating is universal in lots of student activities, taking tests, group work, homework, etc. Use whatever measures you generally use to curb cheating while students are playing Superspeed. Because the thrill of playing Superspeed is reading as fast as possible, cheating by students makes their experience much less fun ... and few students will cheat themselves out of fun.

I think in any game where competition is in place, the concern for cheating is always in the back of our mind. The nice thing about Superspeed is the fact that the student is competing against themselves. If I ever get a "questionable" score from a group, I make sure to have them do a "practice trial test" for just me at recess. I tell my classes that if I catch any of them being less than honest, all of their records will be stripped and they'll have to start the process over at zero. In five years of playing SS 1000, I've only caught a handful of dishonest students...key word is caught, but I feel pretty confident that most of my kids treated the game fairly.

Like Biffle said, using the Student Olympics as a tool to promote hard work during practice trials is pretty key.