"prosecutors claim that he then used teachers’ passwords to hack into computers and change his test scores"
is it really hacking if you have the password?
is it really hacking if you have the password?
Either way, a hacker doesn't feel the artificial limitation of rules. He had a mission to complete, and he had the passwords to help him complete it, so he took the simple path. Sounds like a hacker to me.
That said, the punishment does not fit the crime.