Meridian, Idaho ? Banning baseball caps during tests was obvious – students were writing the answers under the brim. Then, schools started banning cell phones, realizing they could text message the answers to each other.

Now, schools across the country are targeting digital media players as a potential cheating device. Devices including iPods and Zunes can be hidden under clothing, with just an earbud and a wire snaking behind an ear and into a shirt collar to give them away, school officials say.

“It doesn’t take long to get out of the loop with teenagers,” said Mountain View High School Principal Aaron Maybon.

Mountain View recently enacted a ban on digital media players after officials realized some students were downloading formulas and other material onto the players.

Shana Kemp, spokeswoman for the National Association of Secondary School Principals, said she does not have statistics on the phenomenon but said it is not unusual for schools to ban digital media players.

“I think it is becoming a national trend,” she said. “We hope that each district will have a policy in place for technology – it keeps a lot of the problems down.”

Using the devices to cheat is hardly a new phenomenon, Kemp said. However, sometimes it takes awhile for teachers and administrators to catch on to the various ways the technology can be used.

Some students use iPod-compatible voice recorders to record test answers in advance and then play them back. Others download crib notes onto the music players and hide them in the “lyrics” text files.

Cheating prevention

Kansas University spokesman Todd Cohen said KU doesn’t have a policy on turning off electronic equipment during test time.

But, he said, professors are asleep at the wheel if they aren’t monitoring it.

In general, students are told to turn baseball caps backward, to unplug or turn off all electronic devices and to take off earpieces, Cohen said.

Blackberries, iPods, cell phones and Zunes are all concerns.

“A walk across campus is all you need to see everyone is plugged into something,” Cohen said.

Lawrence public schools Superintendent Randy Weseman said the district doesn’t have a board policy on electronic devices. But, he said, he hasn’t heard any problems with them either.

Students are allowed to have cell phones and iPods in school. Weseman said he was “pretty confident” that during testing, teachers were not allowing students to use them.