Standardized testing companies are a key aspect of corruption in our educational system.
I returned to nursing school for a second degree. There is a huge difference how testing is done. These days, schools buy exams and exam questions from these educational testing companies. One enormous problem is the exam material is often /not/ directly related to class content and weeds students out wrongly, testing them on information not covered in the class or curriculum. This is so frustrating and senseless, not to mention - just not scientific for a science-based profession.
I lost many colleagues who dropped out of nursing school because in spite of their hard work and efforts, they couldnt pass these tests. Other colleagues, equally smart, watched as their GPAs wrongly decreased because they couldnt' answer test questions on material not covered in class.
Companies such as ATI, a huge presence in nursing programs, your NCLEX pass rates will increase.Try googling ATI - you won't find anything but marketing info on what is a multi-million dollar, unregulated industry. Profits over education are propelling nursing students into debt without degrees and contributing to a shortage of nurses in our country. School administrators, who are lobbied by these companies, claim this removes weak students - this is nonsense. Yet death from healthcare mistakes about by people who did pass these standardized tests
It's a sad state of affairs when students who actually work hard, day and night don't get an acceptance from top colleges whereas students who buy their way in is just awful. Plus they are neither benefitting themselves nor the society.
The College Board should implement strict policies so that, the use of fraudulent methods are removed and everyone is treated in a fair manner. This will not only benefit the society but also the students as it will display their true merit and qualification.
I have been tutoring math for 15 years in a upper middle class school district.
1. High school Grades are a poor indicator of knowledge.( grade inflation plus regular class curriculum is limited )
2. Students who practice old SAT/ACT tests will raise their scores.
3 . A standardized national tests gives/forces state and local school boards plus private schools to meet certain education standards.
4.A student scoring consistently under 510 /22 on the math section of the SAT/ ACT is not sufficiently skilled in high school math.
5. The statement from a parent after child scores 400s on SAT test, “ how can this score be correct?, my child’s math grades have always been 80 or better”
4
My son has two diagnoses. Seizures and ADHD. Had been on medication for both since kindergarten. He has side effects from the medicine and get extended time on all his tests. This has allowed him to keep up with his classmates . Shame on those who abuse these exemptions for those who need them
8
Dump SAT & ACT tests! Create a matrix lottery system that has comprehensive questionnaire -- students bubble in responses to range questions and rank importance. GPA along with grades received in each course for 4 years of HS get submitted. Statistical info on grade distribution by HS gets submitted (allows colleges spot grade inflation)! Good/thoughtful teachers can set up a grading system allowing for a healthy distribution of grades. Maybe SATII & AP scores get submitted? Though pressure to take too many is AP’s also problematic for kids.
In 20 yrs of teaching at top tier NYC indep & NY public school I have watched the arms race of “getting students into” elite colleges RATCHET UP - along w/ gross contest by indep schools overhauling facilities ($$). The # of students with mental health issues has grown dramatically along with Testing Accommodations. Increase in jaded students is sad. Not much diff w/ NYC public school families. Lots of Asian children & Anglo children by 6th gr spend several weekdays & Sat. doing SHSAT prep. How is our youth losing their only childhood good for society?
How hard is it to teach a room full of strong motivated students?? If top tier schools are SO great why not accept a greater range of abilities? Argument: imperative to have all “capable/bright minded” together in one place. Counter: Malarkey!
Some type of lottery system for admittance into college! Let kids enjoy their only childhood & not be asked to jump through absurd hoops!
2
One of the studies cited is from the College Board itself, so is that real research or salesmanship? The authors should at least include a disclaimer...
But I would also connect this flawed system to the Common Core travesty and 3-8th grade bubble tests. David Coleman of the deceptively named “College Board” was at the center of the push for the unpopular standards, baked into high stakes standardized testing for every public school child in the nation.
Does anyone think it’s a coincidence?
3
Parents buying entrance into elite colleges for their children is the ultimate betrayal of confidence in their kids and an admission of their own failure.
If they wanted their children to be admitted to top notch schools they should have started early on to teach them that discipline and hard work are empowering, that knowledge is a rich treasure that will be with them for their whole life, something that can't be bought with money..
And it is a seemingly little-known fact that even though some kids are not cut out to go to college, they can still find other paths to a successful, meaningful life.
In the end, these parents failed their children, they did not help them. Independent life should not start out with lies and bribery. They pollute the meaning of love.
4
"The SAT and ACT are not aptitude or IQ tests. They are intended to assess how well students have mastered standard high school reading and math concepts."
Not really, especially in terms of the SAT verbal section, which is some (very profitable, despite "non-profit status!) company's means of providing a test score, via some of the most bizarre and contorted questions you've ever seen! Take a look for yourself!
It's much less a matter of understanding reading passages or knowing grammar than it is following the often contorted logic in wording answer choices and the predictable patterns of the test-makers. THAT'S why the SAT is so highly "coachable" via legitimate sort of test-prep. Which the College Board used to deny!
Standardized tests are very flawed instruments. Actually solving math questions and providing the answer yourself (not picking one of 5 canned choices provided) and writing essays about passages are really the only way to text knowledge and understanding of material.
But everyone wants a cheaper, "simpler" method, and that where's standardized tests come into the equation. It's just another profiteering industry, which in turn fuels the test prep industry!
11
I don't have a problem with test-optional schools. However, this "conclusion" is misleading: "...students who did not submit SAT or ACT scores graduated from college at about the same rate as those who did."
If all of the students who did not submit scores graduated with a D average and all the students who did submit graduated with an A average, the author's statement would still be true. I.E.,the quoted statement is close to meaningless.
2
I don't understand why anyone is upset over bribing universities for admission. I mean, every single legislator in the U.S. is bribed daily to do some donor's bidding. All of our laws are the result of "lobbying" which is bribery. If our entire political system is based on bribery, why shouldn't our universities be? Every corporation openly bribes legislators. No one complains about that.
4
I have a feeling that most of these students would have had a brighter future if their parents had invested the bribe money in the Vanguard 5500 mutual fund and not allowed their kiddies to touch it until they were 65 years old.
1
Don’t blame tests. The tests merely show who got a better education. That’s true, even without test prep. Instead, look in the mirror and ask, “What have I done to end school segregation, the modern kind effected by suburbs carving out their own exclusive districts, or the private schools that charge tens of thousands of dollars per year?”
I was a test prep tutor and sole proprietor of a tutoring business for many years, I can tell you that these tests have both flaws and strengths. The main flaw is that their content and style preferences can be studied for, and students who learn the content and practice a lot do better than those taking the test “cold.” I would not call this “gaming” the test, but rather preparing for it. The main strength is pretty straightforward: better students, rich or poor, do better on the tests than average or lesser students (usually not great study habits, not active learners, not as smart).
The main problem with any universal test is that students from better, usually wealthier schools get a better education, so they do better on the tests than poorer students in poorer schools. Stop blaming these tests, or even test prep, for what they honestly reflect: some students are much better educated than others, and this usually reflects wealth. If we want to get serious about opportunity and inequality, end school assignment based on suburban geographies that separate themselves from cities. End private academies.
5
All colleges should immediately declare that they will not accept applications from students who paid for test preparation or any other assistance with college admission. That includes counseling on any aspect of the admissions process. Exceptions could be made for students from low income school districts. In addition no special credit should be given for any unpaid internships or activities that clearly require financial privilege. An unpaid internship for a Senator for not be given greater merit than a summer job to help pay tuition. The colleges are drivers of this inequitable system. They must take the lead in ending it for the good of the country.
1
It’s time to re-evaluate what colleges are for, especially the elite ones, but not exclusively. With tuition rising exponentially, is it really worth it for kids who have to borrow? It’s time we have this conversation.
4
The SAT and ACT are hard because of their fast-paced nature. Additional time changes the core of what these exams test: an ability to quickly assess the situation and attack the problems at hand. These standardized tests also reward speedy reading comprehension. On average, test takers have slightly more than 1 minute per problem (both in math and verbal sections).
3
I am appalled that this is "news". This conversation about inequity in the world of standardized testing has been a conversation for YEARS. The economic and cultural 'might' of the College Board and ACT--multi billion dollar corporations dressed up as not for profit programs--has kept everyone believing that somehow these exams, with all of their economic, racial and gender biases are fair.
Last year the College Board handed over the responsibility of determining who gets to be eligible for special or extended testing to schools. This means it is up to school counselors or learning specialists (if high schools have one) to determine if a student qualifies. If a parent presents a report, however shady, the counselor is the only thing that stands between the child and extended time. Unconscionable. While many students need and deserve accommodations, many families who can pay are using these "psychologists" to game the system. PLEASE, PLEASE general public: take on the College Board. While they have many programs that are good for first generation students the bulk of their work is in extorting millions of dollars from students and their families. By extension the world of people preying on those families shopping around for a learning diagnosis that will yield extra time on tests is disgusting.
5
From the article: "But Operation Varsity Blues, the racketeering investigation that led to charges against 50 people, is one of the most audacious schemes yet: Prosecutors say proctors were bribed to fake scores, test takers were hired to impersonate students and at least one family was encouraged to falsely claim their son had a disability."
Wait, did this authors just say that the racketeering investigation was an audacious scheme? I am fairly certain they did not mean that.
Maybe they will need to brush up on their English grammar and sentence construction before advertising their services as SAT or ACT tutors.
3
So much misinformation, so little time. Hard to know where to start with factual rebuttals
- High school grades, with all their variations and flaws, are still more accurate predictors of undergraduate success than any test -- see the data-filled book Crossing the Finish Line, which concludes:
“High school grades are a far better incremental predictor of graduation rates than are standard SAT/ACT test scores”;
“Overly heavy reliance on SAT/ACT scores in admitting students can have adverse effects on the diversity of the student bodies enrolled by universities”; and
“The strong predictive power of high school GPA holds even when we know little or nothing about the quality of the high school attended.”
- "Reliability" is a measure of a test's consistency from administration to administration, but does not mean that the exam is accurate. A scale that always reports your weight at 160 pounds is "reliable," even if you actually weigh 100 or 300.
- As the Times story reports, more than 1,000 accredited, bachelor-degree granting institutions -- including more than half of the nation's top-ranked liberal arts colleges -- will make admissions decisions about all or many applicants without regard to ACT or SAT scores (full list at fairtest.org). Independent research shows that these schools have increased diversity of all sorts without any reduction in academic quality (https://www.nacacnet.org/news--publications/Research/Defining-Access/)
1
Genuinely torn. I have close friends and family who are highly intelligent but who panic on tests and do very poorly.
On the other hand, standardized test scores were my ticket out of my lousy hometown. Sure, I had a 4.0 when I applied to college, but so did thirty other kids from my unimpressive high school. Without the SATs, no selective school would have looked at me.
6
These rich, entitled kids whose parents helped cheat their way into college will grow up to be rich, entitled adults. So I guess the system does in fact work.
3
While in eleventh grade, I knew an immigrant student who was noted to be talented at quantitive subjects, Asked by and interested teacher, to take the SAT he got 800 on the math and physics tests. He went straight into MIT. I have seen many similar situations. Students capable in quantitative subjects, some from not wealthy families, had their talents discovered by taking the SAT. Many students that I knew wanted a career in what is now designated as STEM fields, including myself, could only muster maybe the high 600s. Some could still work hard and pursue such a career and have some success, but as best as I could see, only those with high quantitative testing scores could achieve significant success. The attempt to denigrate these tests as indicative of privilege and biased or socially unjust, appears to be motivated by the progressive goal of replacing them with a social justice oriented admission criteria based on subjective opinions of students’s commitment to a progressive world view. I had a similar experience in a communist system where rigorous testing was used in addition to points awarded to students based on their social origins, to allow only the politically desirable individuals into universities. This is now being repeated in the US. It is an attack on as an objective admission system as can be devised, athletic and legacy admissions aside, and an attempt to replace it with politically determined criteria.
9
When I was in high school approximately a million years ago, I wandered in to take the SAT, once with zero prep, and did well enough to get into some really selective schools.
My own kids: Their high school started giving them practice tests as early as sophomore year and very strongly suggested parents get their kids private prep, so we did.
My kids’ unvarnished scores would have probably been equivalent to mine but now, thanks to everyone prepping, a kid’s score as the test was meant to be taken (I remember being told there was no way to study for them so don’t worry about it) is not going to look good enough in comparison.
So, thanks a lot, pushy, striving parents. Once everyone preps, then everyone has to prep. :/
5
I was a complete tool in high school. I did everything that my overbearing guidance counselor required to get admitted to an Ivy League college.
In the process of studying, testing, doing science projects, running for school and club offices and playing in tennis tournaments there never was time for sober reflection about what I would do if I won a spot in the Brown University class of 1974.
I used most of my time at Brown to enjoy being out from under parental and counselor expectations and to throttle back from my hectic high school years.
I discovered a rarely discussed secret about the Ivies: as hard as it is to get into them, it is even harder to flunk out.
At graduation, the senior class lines up and then doubles back on itself so you can see every one of our classmates. There were a number that I knew: med school, law school, engineer, med school, business school. Just about everyone, it seemed, used their time wisely.
That shocking realization of what I had wasted propelled me on to graduate work and a moderately successful professional career. But I would have benefited greatly from some time spent in college reflecting on what I really wanted to achieve in college. Chances are I would have taken a gap year.
3
They’re not perfect, but the SAT and ACT remain the most objective part of the college application. I defy you to name any other criterion that is less susceptible to manipulation by the wealthy.
And regarding the association of test scores and income, it’s not surprising that advantaged kids with access to superior k-12 education and other academic enrichment will score higher. Replace income on the x-axis with education level of the parents and you’ll get the same graph. (I firmly believe the association with high priced coaching is overblown. Practicing independently yields the same results, and it’s free.) The association with income level merely shows that the tests do evaluate something real: dare I say, college readiness. Selective institutions understand that, and spot low-income students several hundred points. The tests are still useful for identifying promising applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds.
And anyway, they are only one of many factors in admissions decisions
9
Starting this year, Germany does not allow ACT/SAT tests to be used to determine whether high school qualifications are sufficient to attend a German university!
One more piece of evidence that goes to show that these tests do not predict college aptitude.
By the way, German universities are essentially free, even for foreigners......
5
Tests, no tests, grades, lottery, rock paper scissors.
There will always be some that will game the system.
4
I think most of these tests are aimed at measuring what students know, so all of them should be untimed. That way, the dyslexic student or English as second language student or dysgraphia student can show what they know without being hamstrung by reading or writing a bit more slowly. Where speed is of the essence, where that is something important the test is trying to measure, and I don’t think this is usually the case, then time everybody.
3
I think this is an interesting idea. However speed is an important metric. When testing students for college readiness, we want to measure their discernment and ability to problem solve. Time limits force students to think critically and use their intelligence to select an appropriate solution method from a range of choices. In the workplace or in college, you don’t have the option to brute force every problem, (save that for computers). To be effective you have to identify the problem and apply the correct solution using your experience and ingenuity, a time limit on a test helps evaluate a persons mental flexibility.
I think that people with learning disabilities present an important challenge. We want to test their inginuity like everybody else, but they might take more time to understand the question before they begin thinking. Hopefully the College Board try’s to set the time limits for people with dyslexia/ESL so that they are allowed more time to understand but essentially the same amount of time to problem solve.
I think you bring up some interesting points that time limits can be more easily abused, and difficult to apply fairly. However, I think the overall quality of tests would suffer if we did away with them. You don’t get unlimited time to solve problems in the workplace, you shouldn’t on a test.
Thank you for your thought provoking comment.
1
My daughter frequently complained about classmates cheating on their exams in high school while she studied diligently and received top grades. I told her that it was almost impossible to cheat on the SAT exam and her intelligence would result in a high score while those who cheated in high school would likely score significantly lower. She later confirmed my prediction.
Granted some will game the SAT exam but it still remains as the ultimate tool for predicting who deserves to attend and who will succeed in college.
11
the problem with the SAT is the time constraint. Without it, the test would likely be a fair indicator of ability, at least for the mathematics section. However, then many more students would get perfect scores. It's a test about how many small mistakes a student makes. I know brilliant mathematicians in their later life that struggled to ace the simple math section due to proclivity for small errors. The subject tests largely check how much time and effort a student can dedicate to a new task in the midst of high school. Taking them without working through a prep book is suicide and taking them after thoroughly working through prep books is a cake walk. Some standardized testing would in theory be indispensable for leveling the playing field for poorer bright students but the SAT is doing the opposite.
2
I think this country should place much less emphasis on standardized tests. They are a lazy way of assessing students' potential in this society. Frankly, when I was in college, I was always way more impressed and inspired by those who didn't ace the SATs, rather than those who did. And I went to an Ivy League school, where there was no shortage of people who scored 1600.
11
Yep, same here. First day of college, the same kids boasting about their perfect SAT scores were also the ones boasting about how much money their parents had.
2
@Father of One
Why would you be inspired and impressed by those didn't ace the SAT rather than does who did? Doesn't make sense.
6
The root cause of this madness is the belief among the wealthy that going to a good school, and not an elite school is a failure. It is an insane belief.
There are few vocations more selective than medicine and surgery. My wife and I went to a very good but not elite school and we are both professors in surgical disciplines at a top 25 medical school. Two of my sons are currently students at a top 25 medical school and one went to a very good state school and the other a good state school. None of us had SAT scores in the range as what was achieved here by cheating. But we are did things in those colleges to earn our next step.
You can go to any college and if you work hard and do exceptionally well, you’ll be successful. If you go to an elite school and get a 3.2, you have NO advantage over a student from a student from a good school with a 3.7 or higher GPA. Anyone who tells you otherwise, ask them to show you the data. Because this has been studied and what I am saying here has been proven with evidence, not emotion.
People need to RELAX. Teach your child how to dedicate themselves and work diligently and they can be successful. Can an elite school get your foot in the door in some vocations, sure. But how you perform after you get the job is what counts, and if you cheated your way in along the way, chances are you don’t have the qualities to be successful in any elite job.
10
What percentage of the 4 million test takers got extra time?
It may be impossible to know how many were legit and how many were gaming—and the line may not be bright.
Many commenters seem to assume it is only the wealthy who cheat. Based on what evidence? Some cheating requires money—and not just 1% money—so ok. But other types of cheating not so much. Many admins/teachers at large public schools are notorious for cheating on standardized tests to make themselves look better. Might not they be gaming this part of the system (untimed) too?
I don’t know, but it seems like a lot of the assumptions here are just guesses or reflect a political bias.
4
It would be interesting to see data on test scores and time taken to complete the tests. I recall having better scores on tests that were completed relatively quickly. That shouldn't be surprising; students who know the material will work through it easily. If that's confirmed one would conclude extra time isn't an advantage to normally healthy students.
4
Instead of these standardized tests why not use the 4 years of high school grades as indication of a students aptitude? Seems pretty simple to me, no way to fake that!
Except that grading is very inconsistent between schools, and even within the same school. Plus, private schools whose customers (the parents) expect placement of their children in top universities are highly incentivized to inflate or alter grades.
6
@Joanne
Based on conversations with my high school daughter, there's a significant amount of cheating on tests, thus a poor indicator of aptitude.
2
The key word in the title is "always". Show us a perfectly fair test! There has not been one and won't ever be any! All human selection systems - based on so much subjectivity - will always have flaw. An more universally applicable criterion, such as a standardized test, is better than most. It's unfair to criticize the tests because of a few cheaters.
4
I notice that in all the outrage about the SAT, no one seems to be taking issue with the SAT II, or subject, tests. Perhaps this is because only some colleges require applicants to take these tests but I think, too, that it is because those tests are designed to measure how well students have mastered a particular subject rather than passing judgment on how "good" a student the test taker is. No student, no matter how bright, can do well in a demanding course without doing the work and most students will excel only if they work hard. So, it seems to me that having a test that is based solely on the curriculum that high school students are supposed to learn (which might lead to reaching some sort of consensus on what that means) with well designed questions (and, yes, that is not simple) of increasing difficulty would be a useful tool for colleges to use in evaluating applicants. Past tests should readily available for students to use in practicing for the test and "preparation" should be natural part of the high school curriculum with material (including video tutorials) online for more able and ambitious students. Alternatively, colleges could simply require students to take five or so core SAT II tests with equal access to past tests and study materials. After all, AP and IB courses are favored by colleges because they are relatively standardized and viewed as challenging and have tests that are generally trusted to test mastery of the subject.
2
one big problem with coverage of this scandal is that it may obfuscate the larger problem: that the system as a whole is wrong in its focus.
this scandal is probably a symptom of the bigger tragedy of education not just in the US but around the world, and perhaps even more so in places like China or India or the developed world where education is more a ticket to a better life for the student, not service to a better world as a whole.
if the system is that i study hard to get "mine" then this is the result!! and it will continue, if not through such means as this scandal has shown, through other "more acceptable" or "legal" means, such as "gifts" to schools etc.
this is what happens when students focus at getting as high a score as possible instead of what they actually want to study or do with their lives.
and, to be fair, how are kids at that age supposed to make these sort of decisions, about what to study or how to best contribute to their world?! so, the whole system as a whole is just problematic!!! people might be stopped or limited from doing things such as this, but the essential element of cheating by simply trying to ace the tests etc will continue, cause thats what education is about now.
if anything, this will get worse, cause even the person in the highest office in the land is just a celebration of this culture of cheating and gaming the system!! he gamed it for vietnam, gamed it for his taxes, probably gamed it for his own education etc etc.
3
Standardized tests of all kinds are a plague on education. The College Board is a corrupt organization run by people in it for the money.
The entire system of ranking kids and schools is absurd.
So-called elite colleges are not any better than hundreds of small, largely unknown schools.
I've spent my life in the education world and it's broken.
Learning is not a competitive sport.
This cheating scandal and the teeth-gnashing over the SAT and ACT are simply symptoms of a system that is fundamentally unsound and all about branding and money.
6
"...the prestigious University of Chicago dropped its test requirement in order to “enhance the accessibility of its undergraduate College for first-generation and low-income students,” The University wanted to give itself flexibility to discriminate against candidates who passed the test in order to admit candidates who had questionable academic records. That's called "discrimination".
10
Canadian universities do not require SATs of their applicants. Very refreshing.
3
The SAT/ACT may not be perfect, but going on completely subjective criteria may make things worse as it introduces all sorts of other biases—explicit and subconscious—into the selection processes.
I’m also puzzled by the assertion that reliance on standardized testing favors the “wealthy and white” when it clearly favors Asians.
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/sat-percentile-ranks-gender-race-ethnicity.pdf
As noted in the article, the real problem with cheating on tests is the desperation of some parents to get their kids in “super-elite” schools due to the over-emphasis of college rankings in the U.S. That problem will continue to exist whether you have testing or not.
Getting rid of testing likely won’t help underrepresented groups get into college, but will help increase the proportion of wealthier whites (through advantages like legacy admissions and “wealthy sports” set-asides) at the expense of Asians who do not come from wealthy families.
8
I graduated from college in the early 1980s. When I first took the SAT in my junior year of high school my score on the verbal part was deemed by my parents and teachers to not be reflective of my aptitude and intelligence. So I was enrolled in test prep and spent a designated number of hours per week memorizing “SAT words”. I remember thinking this was so stupid. However I did learn a lot of new words which stayed with me into adulthood and I retook the test later in the year and succeeded in raising my verbal score from 600 to 750 (on a scale of 800) which was at the time considered unusual. So much for the SAT being an aptitude test. It was a test of good parenting and teachers and resources plus my willingness to go along and study for the test.
5
And then there's the college essay.
I remember telling French friends about the admissions process to American universities, and they were most puzzled and amused by the demand for the "personal statement", ideally designed for liars, bootlicks, and cheats to game the system. Asking 17-year olds to write honestly about their life experiences is a fool's errand - inviting pure fiction, membership in a disease-of-the-month club, or professional editorial assistance.
22
This should be the signal that the company overseeing the SAT needs oversight to stamp out corruption. Why do kids with claimed learning disabilities get an advantage? Don't the kids with abilities deserve the spot because ... well, they are brighter, and they are the best? Isn't that the purpose of selection? Or do we go backwards, and offer diplomas and jobs to the least capable?
1
Our child recently took a required “Character Skills Snapshot” administered by the SSAT for private middle school admissions. We received an email from the SSAT months later saying that they incorrectly scored all the students who took the test on certain dates by applying the scale for high schoolers to middle schoolers. Are you kidding me? It gets worse. After “correcting” the scores, our child’s scores were identical, made no sense at all. Then we got another email a week later saying they messed up the corrected scores. You can’t make this up! Finally, they offered for impacted students to retake the test and the scores were now supposedly “correct.” Total junk science that we paid for and schools require. Not to mention the dubiousness of giving personality tests (with incorrectly scaled results) to elementary students.
5
Gosh. People cheat. What a revelation. Only one issue: the problem is with the cheating test takers, their parents, and their enablers, not with the tests. The tests pretty much do their job: seperating those prepared for college from those who are not. So, do safeguards need to be put into place?? Yes. Do penalties for cheaters need to be put in place?? Yes. Do organized scammer enablers need to be prosecuted for fraud? Yes. Do “test takers” need to be prosecuted? Yes. But should genuine differences in readiness, ability, etc., among candidates be discarded (I know, EXTREMELY P.C.)? No. There ARE genuine difference among people. Real life ISN’T necessarily fair. I’d like to play in the NBA, but I’m not tall enough. So, I’m suing to have a device put in place that lowers the basket every time I have the ball.
3
While they may not be perfect, the SAT and ACT are the only objective measure of college applicants and the least gameable. The rigor of high school curriculums varies widely. Some schools offer no AP classes, while others offer dozens. There is rampant grade inflation as some schools, while others stick a normal distribution where is a C is the mean/median grade. Even GPA cutoffs for the National Honor Society vary from school to school.
Some schools do not report class rank, while others anomalously end up with 72 valedictorians! https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/06/10/heres-how-my-graduating-class-ended-up-with-72-valedictorians/?utm_term=.0a91a0bf14b5! (The math curriculum at this particular school apparently failed to cover basic max-min theory). Everybody gets a trophy indeed!
Elite colleges salivate at the prospect of touting an ever-increasing percentage of their students who are drawn from the top 1 percent or 10 percent of their high school classes. What if 72 students in a class of 360 are in the top 1 percent? These inconsistencies cannot be addressed by a detailed review of high school transcripts when some admission offices are besieged by tens of thousands of applicants. Standardized tests are a countervailing equalizer against these kinds of shenanigans.
4
A standardized test that isn't standardized anymore! Some students get extra time and some don't. Some get to take it in a private room, some don't.
A simple solution would be for highly selective colleges that admit fewer than 20% of their applicants to either stop using the standardized test or require students to disclose the specific testing accommodations they were given.
If a student feels his privacy is invaded by having to disclose every one of the testing accommodations that he was given when taking the test, then he doesn't have to apply to that highly selective college.
This disclosure might also lead to interesting revelations. As in -- are there a significantly higher percentage of students taking the SAT with testing accommodations at the private schools that are feeders to the Ivy League and other very selective colleges than the percentage of students with testing accommodations at good public schools?
It would be extremely easy for the feds to get examine the records of all of Mr. Singer's clients for the last 10 years -- not just the ones who hired someone to take their child's exam -- to see how many of the students took their standardized tests with accommodations.
13
@RJ Maybe these elite colleges and universities could get together and administer a specific edition of the SAT or ACT to prospective applicants at a set of locations around the country, where their own officers serve as quality control officials.
2
The standardized tests are the only fair measure. Everyone takes the same test, and it is graded by a computer that knows nothing about the test-taker. There is no opportunity for favoritism or prejudice to creep in.
The preparation courses are scams. The only preparation anyone needs is a book of old exams that costs about $20.
The only change that needs to be made is to get rid of extra time for fake "leaning disabilities" (there is no such thing, according to the American Psychiatric Association). Extra time is justified for the blind (reading braille is slow) or those with cerebral palsy and similar motor disabilities that make it difficult to mark the paper or computer screen.
This op-ed is a demand for opportunities for subjective measures that invite favoritism.
9
The American Psychiaric Association does recognize the existence of learning disabilities:
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/specific-learning-disorder/what-is-specific-learning-disorder
Life isn't fair, that's just reality. Some are born rich, some poor; some with higher intelligence, some less so; some with two parents, some with only one. Yes, there are some people who are born with the entire deck stacked against them. Society can only level the playing field so much. We need to stop playing the victim, and also stop blaming the victims and take some personal responsibilities.
5
13:04
Because some people cheat on their taxes, do you eliminate taxes?
14
Who is most enthusiastic about eliminating the SAT/ACT requirements? A combination of university lawyers and the "do-gooder" admissions types....you see, the less information there is about any of the applicants, the easier it is to mold the class into the image you've already decided it should have--and the less likely it is that Harvard-like lawsuits will get any traction.
It's certainly true that the SAT/ACT exams provide, at best, a glimmer of truth. It helps that in the last year or so universities find out how many times you've taken the exam; it used to be that only what the student wished to report was available. I think that all scores (say, except those taken before 10th grade) should be supplied; and applicants should be required to sign an affidavit as to whether they've received assistance that anyone paid for in prepping. But the idea that the amount of truth in the scores is limited is no good reason to suggest getting rid of that truth--so that you can rely only on squishier information. Unless of course, you are a university lawyer.
The SAT/ACT exams are most important for kids applying from schools which are not feeders to the elite universities. Any high school consistently delivering its graduates to these colleges--someone knows who the believable recommendations come from, what the grading schemes mean, and so on. It's schools that no one knows--where a test score lends believability to the record.
8
If our society gets rid of the SAT/ACT, should we get rid of all standardized tests? The Bar Exam? The GRE? The MCAT?
It’s a bigger question than most are thinking....
26
Imagine getting these American kids to do A-levels or GCES.
2
The article complains that the standardized tests weren't standardized for the cheaters, but that cheating was only possible because of the system of special accommodations that has been set up, thereby undermining the point of a "standardized" test. Make everyone take the test in the same room at the same time and these scams wouldn't be possible.
And for those that advocate eliminating the tests entirely, what would you use instead to gauge academic ability? You think GPAs at different school mean the same thing? You think that schools don't have rampant grade inflation?
Also, all this noise about test prep and tutors is stupid. I took a few practice tests on my own and got a nearly perfect score, and anyone else could have done the same, if they actually had the mental aptitude.
8
The headline is "College Cheating Scandal Shows a Standardized Test Isn’t Always a Fair One"
Shouldn't have been:
"College cheating scandal shows some wealthy parents are as dumb as they think their children are."
Is anyone else experiencing a guilty bit of schadenfreude?
1
I'm the AP testing coordinator at the high school where I work, so I'm all too familiar with the College Board. In the 24 years I've done the work, I've seen the number of kids being granted accommodations grow exponentially. When a parent can't convince the school to pressure the College Board (which grants the accommodations) for a reversal of a denied request, they run off to an "educational support psychologist" or an outside counselor. The accommodations granted are good for all College board exams -- SAT and AP included. I don't begrudge kids who have CP the extra time, or kids who are deaf or blind adaptive equipment, or any other number of reasonable accommodations, but the extra time for most students is unnecessary. As my son said 15 years ago, if he didn't know the answer, the extra time wasn't going to give him the answer.
I've seen College Board grant extra time for "test anxiety". Don't we ALL have test anxiety?! The diagnoses are almost laughable. I have lost all respect for the College Board and the standardized tests they have managed to convince kids to take.
5
Is low intelligence a disability? Shouldn’t people who are not very smart be given extra time?
3
Numbers are important to college admissions because it's impossible to interview all applicants. But the numbers associated wth tests are a small part compared with the numbers from the high schools curriculum... Grades are a better source of information because they show the reality of a students ability to succeed in college.
5
@marrtyy You think a 4.0 GPA from a highly competitive and selective school like Stuyvesant is the same as a 4.0 from an inner-city school that gives kids A's for not stabbing one another? Also, you realize that the test is a chance for kids with a chaotic home or school life which might affect their GPAs to prove they have aptitude? Having everyone sit exactly the same test is an invaluable way to benchmark academic ability. I promise you that if you go the pure GPA all the rich private school kids will suddenly all have 4.0s.
9
@KM
Your premise is wrong. High schools are rated by colleges. They know exactly what the grades mean. And as for tests... they are an easy target for cheats as opposed to cheating on grades for 4 years and 50 or 60 classes. Tests are only a small part of the admission process. Since education is a long term process high school GPAS is a more important indicator of educational success.
3
I may be basing this on an incorrect assumption but it seems to me that if Admissions Boards were in fact all honest then kids like Laughlin's could never have gotten past the interview portion of the application.
The discrepancy between the papers and the person would have stood out and they would have said no because they failed the interview but also because it was clear something dishonest was going on with the process that needed looking into.
Is the interview no longer part of the process? or are the boards of these schools all corrupted in some way?
Is the FBI looking into this?
My youngest is a college sophomore. Interviews were, by and large, no longer part of the process.
We have known for decades that the SAT and the ACT have never been good predictors of success at institutions of higher learning. Why are they still being used for this purpose? It makes little sense!
Patricia Richard-Amato, PhD
Professor Emerita, Cal State, LA
1
You are too kind to James Conant. His primary goal was to decrease the number of Jewish students who attended public high schools in NY and other large metropolitan centers along the east coast from being accepted at Harvard. He reasoned that it sounded better to say that Harvard was looking for students outside these well populated areas.
2
A few months ago I learned that certain doctors in a very wealthy Westchester town will provide a student with a 'learning disability' diagnosis for a fee of 15K to 20K. Disgusting to say the least. These doctors should be prosecuted as well.
3
@bc In a way, they seem to be following in POTUS's footsteps.
A falsehood that is pervasive in the minds of many is that expensive tutors and pricey test-prep courses provide an advantage to the wealthy.
In fact, this is really a scandal unto itself: people have been frightened into believing that you get what you pay for when it comes to test preparation; the rich can afford to be suckers for that idea, but the people who must strain to afford these wasteful and relatively ineffective services are really being hurt, and those who cannot pay the hundreds or thousands of dollars these operations demand are getting the message that there is little hope of being able to compete with the privileged when it comes to their kids scoring up to their potential.
But this is utterly false. Kids can improve just as much--and, often, more--using resources that are extremely low-cost (e.g. UWorld, 1600.io) or completely free (e.g. Khan Academy, YouTube, discussion boards such as the SAT subreddit, SAT Discord servers) as they can from high-priced tutors or test-prep classes. Ask any student who has done both, and you will hear the same answer that those of us who work in test-prep (I'm with 1600.io) hear every day: self-study through these free/low-cost resources are at least as effective (and more enjoyable for the student) as are the high-dollar alternatives that frighten parents into opening their wallets out of fear of their children being left behind, and that make less-affluent families despair for the possibility of have a fighting chance.
4
The bribery scandal reveals the exact opposite of what Eliza Shapiro claims. Is she arguing that this scandal shows us that it would be "fairer" to rely solely on letters of recommendation (from teachers or coaches), grades, internal school rankings (ie. "top 7%") and admissions essays rather than (considering) a standardized test? Really? Perhaps we need to focus on ensuring that students who register for the test are the ones who are taking it. And, we need to ensure that those who might influence admissions have not been bribed, just as this case has done. As Jumaane Williams, the new Public Advocate for NYC has pointed out, if the Specialized High Schools had not had a standardized test, he would not have been admitted Brooklyn Tech. It was thanks to this standardized test (and the fact that admission did not rely on the nomination of his school) that he was able to attend.
7
I am sorry but this system has NEVER been fair. If anybody recalls, some time ago, both the SAT and ACT were found to have been written with a bias for middle class suburban white students based upon the questions asked and the language utilized.
That being said the entire college admission system is fraught with challenges and biases that can be insurmountable already by students from disadvantaged neighborhoods and school systems. For the privileged to attempt to gain further advantage by cheating is an abuse of an already privileged position.
I especially detest parents that abuse the disability ratings to gain advantage for their non-disabled students. One of our daughters had a slight disability and needed the time for tests when she was younger, a position suggested by the school social workers and the special education specialist. Fortunately she no longer needs the extra time, but for others to abuse this system only hoists further damage to the students who truly need the extra time.
Much needs to be done to correct our higher eduction system, from its cost to access. I, for one, am glad to see in the news and hope some good comes from it.
1
Two things:
- If you're concerned about wealth being used to influence a person's college admissions hopes, that wealth is more easily deployed outside of standardized testing. The entire private school industry operates to help rich people get their kids into fancy schools. Standardized tests, though very flawed, at least have a certain just-you-and-the-test quality, unlike school grades. Yes, people can be bribed to falsify results. The solution is to tighten procedures to prevent fraud.
- I worked for several years as a private SAT tutor. My clients ranged from solid middle class to extremely wealthy. On the surface, I was good at my work. My clients consistently increased their scores, sometimes by 300 points or more. But the truth is that if they had just done the prep on their own, they would have done nearly as well. The vast majority of people don't need to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to improve their scores dramatically. They need $20 for the official SAT study guide, which contains eight practice tests. That's how I got a nearly perfect score in high school. I wasn't a genius; I just did 10 practice tests and reviewed the results in detail. It was a pain and took an enormous amount of time, but it wasn't expensive.
5
My daughter will be the third generation participating in the American meritocracy. My father living in row houses in Philadelphia took a standardized test (no prep) to attend a magnet High School in Philadelphia which the led to Ivy League on scholarship and medical school. I read the $30 SAT prep book cover to cover went to state school then Medical school. My daughter who wants to go to “the best school “goes to our excellent public schools in our suburb of Columbus Ohio and we have retained a private college advisor and one on one ACT tutor. Total cost so far $10k. My nurse’s son who attends a vastly inferior public school in a different neighborhood is reportedly very smart and hardworking. Took the ACT once and after much discussion with his family they opted to pay the cost for him to take it again. He may of had a study book. His score did not change. There is no doubt that my daughter is intelligent and works hard (my son does not) but a playing field which was always uneven is now distorted beyond recognition
1
I think we are losing perspective on the cheating scandal. The SAT/ACT remains difficult to cheat outright—most kids have to present valid ID and sit in large proctored groups where cheating is not feasible.
And test prep—long the target of anti-testers—is now free online through the Khan Academy and others. Students can take practice tests online via the testing agencies themselves. Evidence suggests that these various free services are equal to the paid services, and evidence further questions whether any of them make a significant difference.
Also lost in the hysteria is how few cheaters have been caught over the years. The recent Singer crowd was 50 people over the last 8 years and the Long Island group was 20 kids a handful of years ago. Note that 4 million kids took the exams last year alone. Maybe there are many more getting away with it (China is suspect) but I doubt it. Criteria for untimed testing can also be tightened.
Much, much more common is grade inflation and the exaggeration/fabrication of extra curricular/community activities. The extent of help applicants receive on their essays also varies greatly. These, other than maybe grade inflation—and what does one do about that—are much harder to root out.
So no, the standardized tests, whatever their flaws, remain more fair and unbiased and less subject to cheating or favoritism—or political manipulation—than the other inputs to the application process. Which may be why some groups want to abandon it.
16
The pressure to get into prestigious schools, with the associated cheating, is another malign consequence of the increasing economic inequality in our society.
Don't know why standardized test was identified as not "always a fair one". Parent desperately try to boost their children's HOLISTIC standing, whether it is soccer, tennis, or swimming, whether it is volunteer, leadership, or other extracurricular activities, are similarly if not more so at risk.
3
As a parent of a child with disabilities that needs more time to process and express himself, any suggestion he not be allowed that, eliminates him from meaningful participation. Same does not always equal fair. It isn’t fair he was born with more challenges than others either. For my child to sit extra time in an exam is agony for him. Most children with learning disabilities have to work harder than their peers to just stay focused. Perhaps the answer is to police your own system and clean it up rather than further discriminate against those already disadvantaged, as has been suggested by some here. Give the extra time to everyone if you think it’s such a huge “advantage “.
2
Standardized tests definitely favor those with means. When I took the GMAT the first time, without test prep, I got a 550 - beyond awful. I ripped a well-known university test prep course from Pirate Bay; improving my score to 780 after about 4 weeks of solid prep. That prep course was something ~$4K commercially.
What this tells you is that standardized tests can be hacked. You learn tricks, you learn the test. Some of the worst students I've ever met scored really well on standardized exams because the exams do not actually measure preparedness or intellectual capability.
As one who sat on the admissions committee for a PhD graduate program at Berkeley, I never looked at scores or grades. I looked at the candidate's cover letter, letters of support, and applied research history. We need to be more holistic in our approach to college admissions. There is often far too much emphasis on GPA and test scores. I get it, there has to be a means of down selection. The amount of overhead spent on ridiculous nonsense at Universities could easily be applied to admissions to ensure that the process is fair. But instead, money is being spent on sports teams, new rec facilities, and other edutainment trivialities.
This story is but one small aspect of the erosion of our University system in the US. The state of higher education very much reflects the corrosive profits-over-people society we live in today.
1
To put less or no weight on testing would be a good start for college admissions. If testing must be used, at least find a way to administer them such that students can't cheat and practice them for years!
I believe testing as an indication of competency and for teaching guidance is necessary, but testing of high school students is quickly becoming a circus in general. Cheating is so widespread. I've heard of high school students finding answers online to previous school tests, parents arguing test scores after the fact, high schools that allow students (even of AP classes) to retake tests if the scores are not optimal, etc. It's all so disturbing! What ever happened to learning, honorably?
On a separate but related note, I really believe that the fairest modification to our education systems comes from ensuring equality of resources for early education such that kids can be on equal footing from the onset of their educational experience. In light of all the problems highlighted in the latest scandals, let's stop thinking that there can ever be equity in allowing colleges and universities to be the gatekeepers of opportunity.
It frustrates me that people’s response to this situation is to do away with the tests completely. Do you think that will improve the situation? As the article points out, these standardized tests were originally designed as a way to decrease the influence of inherited wealth and counterbalance grade variability. Dropping the SAT/ACT will not help things – improving them will. And the most obvious way to improve them would be to re-standardize them by allowing ample time for all test-takers, regardless of disability status.
If allowing more time makes the test easier, then we can’t know how much of an individual’s score is due to a legitimate accommodation due to a disability, and how much is due to taking an easier test. If allowing more time does not make the test easier, then allow more time for everyone.
12
@Rachael SAT or ACT scores are poor predictors of performance in college. I never took a standardized test and did exceptionally well in college and career. Why do you suppose some of the elite universities have dropped the requirement?
All this talk about how to take the SAT/ACT and how students have to pretzel themselves so that they will earn high scores. Let's discuss the notion that these students are not receiving the proper education to prepare for these tests in the first place. I tutor students and help prepare for these tests, and the reason they come to me for this extra time is: people who are in teaching positions who have no business in being teachers. They infer their personal failings and problems into their "teaching." Most educational learning systems are dreadfully outdated and even plainly wrong.
It is more about luck. When you are a child you can consider yourself lucky if you have a teacher who knows and understands what is needed, and, whose sole motivation is for a student to succeed. This means that you remain flexible with the way you are teaching a class. I am not saying this is easy. It is hard, in the beginning, but it will become easier because it pays off to understand that a class is not just a class. A class is filled with an x amount of individuals who are ready to soak up the education you provide.
Please, show them that learning is fun and worthwhile. They have to do it for a long time and what better reason is there to educate well, so that they will have a much easier time preparing for these tests. They don't have to waste time and energy on cheating.
7
100% agree, but impossible to do. Improved? Hopefully...
@anniec3 I don't blame the teachers. My daughter read voraciously, my son sporadically. Students need to put in the work. Parents and teachers can help, but my son was darn stubborn. He of course did much worse on his SATs than my daughter. You get out of life what you put into it.
3
If the parents would put as much time, money and effort throughout their children's pre-college education, their children would be better off, better educated and better prepared than waiting until the end of that cycle. That much should be obvious. Parents are too busy with other, personal goals and interests than what would be more effective. Too much rah, rah, rah and not enough attention to what really matters. Excellence in sports is not the goal of education.
7
@Glenn Thomas
I assume there are varying level's of fitness for college in the kids involved.
Something that stands out to me for its glare as well as for how that glare seems to be normal in our society today are Lori Laughlin's kids.
Aside from the fact that it is obvious neither of them could get into a community college based on what they know having graduated HS. Both of them are so narcissistic it is clear Laughlin and husband have failed utterly as a parents.
The fact that no one is commenting on this glaring aspect (their apparent mental emotional development is almost cartoonish like the characters in a Frank Zappa album) may have something to do with one of the most successful TV shows for years being about the family of a porn star who happens to be the child of one of the attorney's who got OJ off on those two murders he committed.
Seriously have seen these kids?! I would be worried letting them walk to the corner store.
I commend universities for making SAT and ACT scores optional. At the very least I think SAT/ACT scores should factor in less than they traditionally have. I think they can be good indicators but should be included with many other factors to predict success in college. I was not a standardized test taker and didn't really hit my intellectual stride until I entered university where mastery of information was demonstrated in less restricted ways.
Having just gone through the process with my (now college freshman) son, I can say that The College Board's stranglehold on the college admission process is daunting and frustrating if you don't fit their demographic and mold. They run the standardized tests and the AP class testing all of which cost money and undue stress and which promote widespread cheating in classrooms across the country. Anything to lessen their power over the process is a good thing.
12
@Jen I did not take either test and was very successful in college. The tests have outlived whatever usefulness they may have had.
1
As a mid-career professional, I recently applied to graduate school and had to take the GRE. I had taken it in previously in 2003 and completed a graduate program.
My experience taking the test 15 years later was quite different. And not only because I was out of practice. The test had increased to nearly 4 hours, and the math problems were significantly more challenging.
I relied on a prep book (Kaplan from the library) for the math section, essentially reteaching myself concepts I haven’t used in years and would not use in my future course of study or career. Before test day I was scoring moderately well (70-80th percentile) on practice exams. During the test I saw problem after problem that I wasn’t equipped to solve. I scored in the 30th percentile on the actual test. It was horrifying.
I am convinced that the difficulty of these standardized tests has been skewed by students using test prep programs and taking the test over and over to send their personal best scores to universities. Something the test companies actually encourage.
I was lucky enough to get into the program of my choice despite my dismal score.
My recent experience has made me realize that in today’s climate, standardized tests are nothing more than an indicator of the time and money you have to throw at the test.
P.S. Whatever you do, don’t rely on Kaplan to teach you GRE Math!
12
@CP
For those expecting to take a high school equivalency or grade leveling exam- beware- math has changed dramatically in even the past 10 years.
The Fairtest interest group continues to make outrageous statements regarding testing. If anything, this scandal demonstrates that we need objective standards so that the more arbitrary standards of "character" or "personality" are not exclusively used in evaluating candidates. And as the article points out, grade inflation is checked by SAT/ACT scores.
The are security concerns about testing are reasonable in light of these events but very few students actually successfully cheat these exams.
12
There is a whole set of assumptions that underlies college admissions. Most of these revolve around how to exclude people. The "elite" colleges pretend to offer something entirely different from ordinary colleges such as state schools. They bolster their status with myths and with exclusive, competitive admissions. They are good at solidifying class differences. It's mostly velvet ropes and a bouncer. Having taught at Lehman College, CUNY, I can certify that the upper-level students (juniors, seniors) were having sophisticated conversations about literature that were often more interesting than ones that take place in the Ivy classrooms I've attended because the Lehman students had diversity of background and life experience, combined with equal literary smarts while the Ivy kids are often sheltered. In STEM, the curricula are often identical from State U. to Exclusive U. There's an emperor here with no clothes.
I propose that we go somewhat Euro: nationalize the admissions to all schools. Students must pass a basic college proficiency exam. They get to give preferences for locations, and then get randomly matched. You'd be able to say you want to go to school in Vermont or Colorado, but not Harvard or Berkeley. The national education levels of our kids would be about the same, or better because of the increased mixing of class, race, background.
10
What about the hiring managers' preference for job candidates who graduated from the Ivy League colleges? Can anything be done to end that?
The tests need to be truly standardized to be meaningful. There should be no allowances for extra time. As for the identification problems allowing somebody else to take a test in a student's name: in addition to showing a picture ID, the student should be photographed with an average-quality digital camera when presenting ID and signing into the test. That photograph should be assigned a security number that follows the student throughout the the testing procedure. Only after a student is admitted to a college and has accepted the terms (financial aid, etc), the photograph that accompanies the test should be released to the college in order to verify that the identity of the student they are admitting matches the identity of the person who actually took the test. Waiting to release the photo will help to ensure that the college does not admit or reject students based on visual characteristics noted from the photograph.
4
@Fern Interesting idea, but it's hard to compose a class if you have to rejigger it after admittances go out. Hopefully there would be few people who had someone else take the test for them.
@Chip Most colleges have some sort of waitlist. I agree that hopefully there would only be few enough people cheating the system to not overburden the admission system.
It is fascinating to see how many comments here focus on the disability accommodations as if they are some sort of unfair advantage to children who will live their lives with an unfair difference.
My child has a documented disablity. He is on the autism spectrum and has dysgraphia. When he was getting ready to take the PSAT we went through the process of proving to College Board that he had a disability and needed keyboarding access. No extra time. The process is very thorough and not as easy as you would think. Unless you have psychologists, physical therapists and other professionals lying for you, or falsifying documents, it is not so easy to qualify for accommodations.
My 'disabled' child scored in the commended range in the PSAT and has two 5's out of the two AP exams he has taken so far. With keyboarding access. Without those accommodations he would never have taken any of those tests.
There is no 'advantage' in honest accommodations.
20
@Diana Understand the comments are exactly about your son's situation - other are claiming their child has same disability, when they clearly do not. This may affect allowing the designation at all for those who actually need it.
1
@Paulo i understand that the system is taken advantage of by a few unscrupulous people but if you read some of the comments here they include people questioning why anyone should be given accomodations at all since life will not accomodate to those with a disability. Those are the kind of comments I am responding to.
2
The solution is not to get rid of the tests because grades are even less reliable.
My kids primarily took all the study guides out of the library and used them to study and you can do a lot of practice free online. It's not perfect, but it really is sufficient to make these tests usable.
We need the test, but here are some suggestions:
-One national test day a year when all juniors take the test (one for ACT and one for SAT).
- Raise the bar for extra time. Only allow extra time is extreme, medically proven cases - and make sure that that is noted on the test score.
- A second national test day for SAT subject tests.
- Provide free (like already exists for the most part) past tests.
The admissions system is rotten to the core, with our children suffering needlessly so let's make it more objective (.no legacy, athletic scholarships, etc)
14
This is all very old news. Back in the 90s, when I was entering college, it was quite clear that people were using fake disabilities to gain advantage. It's just slightly more prevalent now.
Removing the ACT/SAT from consideration won't actually end cheating to get into college. There will still be plenty of rich parents threatening lawsuits in order to get their kids more lenient grades in their high school classes (or the chance to do all coursework at home, where mom and dad can do it). There will still be individual teachers who can be bribed. With online high schools, parents can hire someone to do all of the high school coursework while posing as the child.
When I was in high school I saw plenty of people who didn't do well in their courses, but who were clearly very smart. Some found the general culture of high school toxic, while others were outright bullied, and some were dealing with abuse at home. Without an ACT or SAT score to make up for their lackluster grades, they'd have no hope of getting into a college that matched their actual academic abilities. College is so different from high school, that for some students high school grades aren't useful as the only indicator. My own brother went from nearly failing a lot of high school courses to dean's list in college.
We need more means of evaluating college-readiness, not fewer.
46
@EB We need to fix high school. That's what we need to fix. And middle school too. There is no reason that someone who can't read or write should get a high school diploma. It renders the diploma irrelevant.
Why do students diagnosed learning disabilities get extra time at all? In the hyper-competitive college application world this creates a easy advantage to exploit by the unscrupulous. Some may have more difficulty completing the test in the time allotted due to inherent cognitive differences but this is life. When they get a job I doubt that their employer will give them extra time to complete assignments.
73
@alr52159
Cognitive ability is only one factor of being a successful employee, along with work ethic, integrity, etc. A manager cares about getting an assignment done by the time they need it. They're not going to care how much time was spent on it in order to get it by when they needed. Even among non-cognitively-disadvantaged people, there will always be able to do things faster than others. I, for one, would much rather hire someone who may take longer to complete a task, but has integrity and a work ethic to persevere through a test that is objectively more difficult for them, than a cognitively-normal individual who abused the system.
Also, what does your argument say about employers if it is true? Do we really want to work in places that lack compassion for those facing lifelong hardships?
Just because there is a current reality doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for something more ideal.
8
@alr52159
Cognitive ability is only one factor of being a successful employee, along with work ethic, integrity, etc. A manager cares about getting an assignment done by the time they need it. They're not going to care how much time was spent on it in order to get it by when they needed. Even among non-cognitively-disadvantaged people, there will always be those who are able to do things faster than others. I, for one, would much rather hire someone who may take longer to complete a task, but has integrity and a work ethic to persevere through a test that is objectively more difficult for them, than a cognitively-normal individual who abused the system.
Also, what does your argument say about employers if it is true? Do we really want to work in places that lack compassion for those facing lifelong hardships?
Just because there is a current reality doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for something more ideal.
1
@alr52159 it’s the law — the ADA, Rehab Act ans IDEA Act provide for the integration of people with disabilities. Timed tests, like other arbitrary measures, are not an indication of intelligence or ability to complete a job or assignment. (There’s abundant research to support this.) The “rich kid” exploitation of a system designed to promote inclusion and civil rights should not delegitimizate accommodations for people with disabilities that genuinely need them. For most people, it’s actually very difficult to secure the accommodations and even more difficult to ensure they’re actually provided/followed.
10
Standardized unless you can afford to pay someone to take the test for you or change your answers afterwards.
This admissions fraud scandal may lead to some changes, especially since there is now a class action lawsuit against the
universities for not giving every prospective student fair consideration. Of course this has to be just the tip of the iceberg.
As a teacher, I would also like to point out that cheating in high school is much more pervasive now that almost everyone has a smartphone in school. It's so common that students think nothing of it, as though cheating couldn't be really cheating if so many people do it.
19
@SCZ, yes, my son (who is now a college freshman) complained of rampant cheating during his last couple of years of high school. And, no surprise, most of this was taking place in AP classes, another College Board sponsored stress driver. Teachers had caught on, but I think many have given up as it's an upstream battle.
5
@SCZ Horrible but true. Cellphones make cheating much easier.
2
@Jen
And teachers cannot police those phones.
France has finally banned phones from all schools in the country. Not only do they greatly weaken attention spans, but they are how kids cheat.
4
It's all well and good to debate whether taking the SAT should be required for admissions to colleges, but it's still the only way a student can qualify for the National Merit Scholarship program. So if you don't need to try and compete for scholarship money then you have choices and options. If you cannot afford the insane costs of college and you are a smart kid then you are forced into taking the PSAT and SAT and trying to get all the prep you can get through free programs or paid.
7
We are not aware of any prior incident where someone has attempted to take advantage of our accommodations policy to evade our test security systems,” he said, noting that the College Board sometimes asks for more documentation to demonstrate that a student needs extra time.
This is an outrageous falsehood. They are not aware that anyone is taking advantage of their accommodations policy? Are you kidding. Talk about putting head in the sand.
23
“The strongest predictor of a student’s score ‘is affluence of parents and education of parents,’ said Steve Syverson, a vice chancellor for enrollment at the University of Washington Bothell.”
NYT used to do a little thing called “reporting,” where if someone made a claim like this they had to back it up before it would be published. If that statement is true, it’s unfathomable that families with $1.5 and $6 million to burn would need to cheat. This scandal is actually evidence that the tests are hard for rich kids too, hooray!
6
@Toby
If one looks at the aggregate data, students from wealth do perform better on standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT. This is simply a well documented statistic. It is not the issue that the tests are "hard for rich kids too", it's about preparation and opportunity. Those students, often coming from more affluent communities, also attend schools with substantial resources (small class size, AP courses, etc.), have greater outside of school programs available, and parents that can provide other additional support. Finally they, often, have parents that, themselves, attended college. Whether your mother attended college is, statistically, a known and powerful predictor of educational success.
There are many affective variables at work here and "individual results may vary", but the anecdotal stories, such as this cheating incident, do not change the fact that educational opportunity in this country, cheating aside, is still driven by wealth.
6
Unfortunately, the amount of grade inflation at most public high schools is so ridiculous that it makes GPA an unreliable indicator of student aptitude, too. At my daughter's suburban, middle class public school getting a "C" is a rare and shocking thing. So to look at the school's grade distribution, every single kid is "above average" in every single subject... Didn't Garrison Keillor have some line about that?
80
@Reader
It is even worse at the private schools where the parents pay to make sure the children receive good grades.
11
My sister is a pediatrician and she gets many requests to declare that a student has a medical reason for extra time. Most of these requests are bogus and she rejects them. But others doctors will approve them.
The SAT and ACT are very much time-based tests where speed limits your score. Giving extra time makes them quite unfair. This is a major issue with the fairness of these tests.
Wealthy private schoolers are encouraged to get extra time -- do you think public school minority children get this advantage?
54
@Observer
It isn't about minority children - it is about wealth. Poor white kids don't get the advantage either. Stop mixing race into the equation.
5
SAT scores may be highly predictive of success in college but if you don't plan to spend your life in college, then what are they good for?
There's much more to life than getting A's at university. See:
Albert Einstein. Or for a worse example: Donald Trump.
4
@A. Jubatus Those are good examples, precisely because Albert Einstein had opportunities because of his intelligence and ability to grasp concepts in spite of being relatively disinterested in typical school topics, and Donald Trump, on the other hand, had opportunities only because he was amoral and born rich to parents who bought him opportunities.
1
@A. Jubatus
Albert Einstein, for the most part, was an exemplary student (he did fail a Frech exam once). Some of his professors didn't like him cause he was smarter than they were. I doubt Trump got an A in anything, though that will be hard to prove as he threatened a lawsuit against any school he attended that releases his transcripts.
1
"The SAT and ACT are not aptitude or IQ tests. They are intended to assess how well students have mastered standard high school reading and math concepts.".....Hey, either you can do the math and read for comprehension or you can't. I don't see why it matters how you acquired the skill. If it takes a tutor and practice, and you learn how to do the math and read for comprehension, so be it. Of course getting more time and having someone else take the test is fraud, but if the student themselves can do the math and read for comprehension it isn't gaming the test, it is acquiring knowledge, and why should anyone care how it is done.
16
Have we become a lazy society, where buying our entrance into school is the way to go, forgetting the proven method of combining talent with effort, if we could equalize the opportunities to achieve our goal?
1
@manfred marcus no, we haven’t - which is why these folks were arrested.
3
@Toby I guess this sick joke has finally caught our attention. But why just now, when this cheating has been going on for far too long?
You know how the Europeans who have figured out healthcare handle it? Very high stakes standardized exams.. and it works.
5
How about if we eliminate all these imperfect criteria for deciding which students get in and just run a lottery? Pick the names of the accepted students out of a hat.
2
Many small companies don't pay attention to graduation documents but have their own tests. Personality of the test taker is given considerable importance.
1
Steps to begin cleaning up the systemic corruption in the admissions process at elite colleges and universities:
1. Get rid of the SAT and ACT exam requirements (and thus the exam preparation industry) for all universities.
2. Get rid of all athletic scholarships and preferential admissions for athletes.
3. Get rid of legacy admissions.
4. Get rid of preferential admissions for the families of large donors.
5. Identify all the academically qualified candidates in the admissions pool and then use a lottery to choose the class from among that group.
6. Pass legislation revoking eligibility for ANY government funding of any college or university, public or private, that continues to allow these corrupt preferential admissions practices for the wealthy.
28
@CF each one of these proposals has some many unintended consequences, you're going to end up back in the same place.
8
@CF The reality is that elite schools are extremely competent at identifying high performing candidates who deserve to be there. The results speak for themselves. For example, Princeton alone can point to the following:
Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google
Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon
Michelle Obama, First Lady
Ethan Coen, filmmaker
Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard
etc., etc., etc.
1
@CF
What criteria should be used to "Identify" in your step 5,
"5. Identify all the academically qualified candidates in the admissions pool...."
5
In a country where funding for education varies as does quality, look at Texas, there is only one way I can see for colleges to compare an applicant from Texas with one from North Dakota and that is a standardized test. It is not an IQ test just like it is not an eye exam.
The problem is not the test. Cheating is cheating and test prep is not cheating.
14
Standardized testing companies are a key aspect of corruption in our educational system.
I returned to nursing school for a second degree. There is a huge difference how testing is done. These days, schools buy exams and exam questions from these educational testing companies. One enormous problem is the exam material is often /not/ directly related to class content and weeds students out wrongly, testing them on information not covered in the class or curriculum. This is so frustrating and senseless, not to mention - just not scientific for a science-based profession.
I lost many colleagues who dropped out of nursing school because in spite of their hard work and efforts, they couldn’t pass these tests. Other colleagues, equally smart, watched as their GPAs wrongly decreased because they couldn’t' answer test questions on material not covered in class.
Companies such as ATI, a huge presence in nursing programs, claim NCLEX pass rates will increase as result of using their programs. Try googling ATI - you won't find anything but marketing info on what is a multi-million dollar, unregulated industry. Profits over education are propelling nursing students into debt without degrees and contributing to a shortage of nurses in our country. School administrators, who are lobbied by these companies, claim this removes weak students - this is nonsense. Yet deaths soar from healthcare mistakes involving people who did pass these standardized tests.
7
@Kyzl Orda Here in Indy way more people want to be nurses than can get into good state school nursing programs. You have to have a 4.0 in beginning coursework. It's expensive to expand nursing education. Many people end up turning to proprietary colleges promising a nursing degree. They end up changing bed pans in nursing homes, where there is a real need but insufficient pay to be paying back exorbitant student loans for these for-profit schools. Nursing education is a real problem.
1
@Kyzl Orda I'm glad that nurses who do not know the material or are not smart enough to put it to use are weeded out by standardized testing. The nursing license should serve as an assurance to patients that their nurse is held to some standard of competency. There are private, for-profit colleges taking advantage of nursing students and the health care system by admitting applicants who are not capable of mastering the material, just so that the colleges can continue to make more money by passing the students through classes.
3
@Kyzl Orda You are spot on! It is greed and corruption. How sad that otherwise excellent nurses didn't pursue their chosen careers because of "creative" testing instead of scientific testing.
Test prep teaches kids now to master the test, not the content. The way to ace 'reading comprehension' is not to waste time reading the passage, but to skim, then answer the question by scanning for the trick.
Even the SAT essay can be gamed. I wrote a template for my son, it brought his score from mediocre to quite good.
3
We need to be careful not to imply that the exams are unfair or biased. It's the way they may be used or abused by test administrators, proctors and test prep staffs that can cause unfair results. Students can enter a testing room with test information on cards, phones or tablets or they can be seated too close to each other. Their are standards but not all testing situations may meet those. It is also possible for a photo to be sent to a testing staff and the staff asked to allow a particular student to keep their cards or electronic devices. In all cases, cheating is done by people, not by an exam. It is true that certain questions on a test can be biased against a racial group, but these are most often eliminated as soon as they are discovered.
3
So cheaters get caught and the response is — blame the test!! Come on. At what point do you finally hold folks accountable for their actions??
76
Should we completely abolish the concept of parking lots because some people have fake disabilities and unfairly get the disabled parking spots?
22
@Pantagruel Of course not, but abuse of the system needs to be curtailed - just as many cities have done with handicap parking privilege.
1
Eliza and Dana are not correct. The SAT and the ACT are absolutely the best predictors of academic success. And they are very close to IQ tests. IQ is the best predictor, of course, but because of a Supreme Court ruling that sought to ignore facts of nature and made them illegal in schools, businesses, and government, we must now use the less accurate high school grades, holistic measures, and a limited reliance on the the best predictors because some racial groups do poorly on them. Let us please face reality and the truth.
10
“But it turns out the test (SAT) is highly reliable"
What this statement means is that the SAT is a reliable predictor of how well one can perform on standardized tests. How many jobs/professions require performance on standardized test as part of their day to day workload? And is there any correlation between performance on standardized tests and eventual professional success? Not really!
https://news.psu.edu/story/165456/2010/08/23/standardized-tests-not-always-best-indicator-success
2
This cheating scandal is truly incredulous. The more I read on it, the more infuriated I become. Y’all really out here faking grades, whole entire sports your kids don’t even play, test scores, disabilities- just how much privilege do y’all need exactly? The whole entire world?
2
One of the "disabled" rich boys at my son's school now holds a PhD from MIT. Wonder if the poor little thing got extra time on his qualifying oral exams?
1
@WER If his PhD is fake, his scientific community will find out soon enough. Pretty tough to get an MIT degree; even tougher to get grants in the current environment.
3
@Chip its real, the kid is brilliant. my point was "extra time" on the exams unfairly disadvantages all the other test takers. Especially since the College Board does not flag which results benefit from extra time.
Tell me something I don't know about rich White people. It's White privilege at its best.
2
@Kingsley A. Rowe How did you go from rich white people to white people so fast? As far as I know, there are no poor white kids involved in this scam, and several wealthy minoritized families who are involved in it. The link is money, and it isn't the billionaire class.
Like everyone else I hated taking the SATs but they are a way of leveling the playing field. My children’s high school was economically and racially diverse. More than 30% of the class did not go to a four year college. This statistic is reviewed and frowned upon by college admission offices. So a higher score on a standardized test can prove to an admissions committee that you did have an excellent high school education. Let’s face it elite high schools, public or private, are in the college admissions game and are never going to grade students harshly. Just as the Ivies don’t. They don’t want to hurt their future opportunities. Standardized tests can level the playing field but all students taking them need to prepare by taking practice tests, learning the organization and timing of the exams and actually studying in high school.
14
The real scandal is that we force families to bankrupt themselves to pay college tuition or force students to take on burdensome student loans so they can get a job most could have performed just as well straight out of high school, provided they got a good high school education.
Most corporations are not interested in what students “learn” in college. They don’t think colleges teach students anything worthwhile. They value college degrees only because they show graduates were bright enough to get into college and ambitious enough to attend class for four or five years.
We should permit corporations to base hiring on IQ tests or SAT or ACT scores rather than college degrees.
We should prohibit colleges from granting degrees; the purpose of degrees is to spread tuition money across as many disciplines and possible while punishing students for dropping out before completing four-year degree program. Student debt is beginning to rival the national debt as a result and about half of them will end up working in jobs that require no college degrees.
2
@William Case Just being able to complete a degree shows some amount of initiative. I am reminded of the "recommendation" letter that reads "You would be lucky to get this person to work for you."
1
It is time to reform the whole school system and introduce serious standardized tests. The quality of education has dropped to laughable levels. It is tragic that a rich country like ours does not offer proper avenues of education to most of her youth. Even the small number of superb high schools in NY are under attack by educators and politicians.
3
So - here is what we know:
1. People will cheat the tests just like people claim handicapped parking placards and rob banks.
2. The accommodation elements of writing for real and imagined childhood disorders is subject to manipulation.
3. Actual results from the test are gamed by 'bonus' points by universities in order to expand their acceptance pool.
4. Despite all claims to the contrary - test results are relatively independent of high-priced coaching - apart from taking a practice test or two you can't markedly improve your score by repeated drilling.
5. The combination of GPA AND SAT results is till the best predictor of college success.
6. Lastly - despite claims peppered throughout the comments - they do accurately measure intelligence - if you're smart you will do well - if you 'think' you're smart because your mom told you that - then you won't do well.
All in all - still the best sorting mechanism for selective colleges.
56
@SteveRR best comment I’ve read on the whole scandal.
5
@SteveRR
" if you're smart you will do well"
Totally false. And it's precisely this idea that keeps good kids down, and reinforcing the message that poor test scores mean poor intelligence.
Tests do not take into account an intelligent child who is suffering from clinical depression, abuse or problems at home, possible drug and alcohol abuse, dyslexia or other learning disabilities that have gone undiagnosed etc etc. Children are highly sensitive, emotional beings, whose brains are not fully developed until they're 25. Telling a child who is depressed because they're witnessing or experiencing physical abuse or trauma at home that they're also stupid because they didn't score well is setting up an innocent individual for a lifetime of failure.
12
We are entering an age where admission to elite institution requires a diversity quota to be deemed fair. This is to artificially adjust for the perceived inequality between each dichotomy of people. Which again is open to exploitative actions. I fully support blind admissions.
3
In the immediate future, colleges and families alike will conclude that the College Board is not a worthy gatekeeper.
I have no opinion on whether the SAT/ACT is a valid or useful test. But as a close observer of the college admissions marketplace, I do think now is the turning point for how colleges and the larger public view the tests.
Just this year, the U of Chicago became test optional, the most selective college to do so. Several instances of overseas cheating, have displayed that international testing scene is completely corrupt. The Blum suit fostered cynicism among Asian-American families by steering the narrative toward disparate test scores among racial and ethnic groups. The College Board moved the AP test registration deadline to November, seemingly for financial gain. And now this crass admissions scandal, largely based out of California, has exposed the vulnerabilities of the system and the lengths to which rich parents will go to break the rules.
Look for more highly selective colleges to abandon the SAT/ACT. Look for more investigations of the College Board. Look for the details in rulings in the Blum case, likely in June.
4
My sister-in-law, a school psychologist had my nephew declared “special needs”, and he got all sorts of extra accommodations along the way. All through middle school, high school, college, and law school.
This is nothing new, it is just getting out there.
And, no, the kid was not learning disabled, he just had a mother who knew the system well enough to game it, thereby taking resources from others who need it. His special need was that his mother wanted her son to be a lawyer like her father was, before her father’s untimely death.
11
Many years ago, I worked in the office of Winton Manning, an ETS vice president who testified before congress on the fairness of standardized testing. In "Beyond Bakke" he wrote of the tension between the need for fair and transparent standards, such as the SAT and the equal need for soft standards, such as essays that spoke to life challenges. However, he was careful to point out that decisions based on "soft standards", because they are subjective and made in "secret" are at least as prone to bias and unfairness as those based on objective standards.
26
The admission's scandal exposes other travesties to the admissions process. High on the list, the admissions acceptance process has been made increasingly opaque and subjective. The use of "hard" data such as grades and tests have been de-emphasize in favor of "soft" discretionary holistic evaluations. While subjective criteria appears to be very open-minded, it does translate into having no standards.
Furthermore, higher education should not be used as a training ground for future professional players. Why should a person receive an athletic scholarship when there is an opportunity that that person would receive a huge salary after graduation? I would advocate that any professional teams reimburse the university and even throw in some extra money so that other students could get their tuition lowered.
The use of test scores for evaluating whether a student should or should not be accepted is fraught with "issues". But then that is true of any decision making process. Nevertheless "hard" standardized approaches to admissions should be implement since much of the discussion relates to student qualifications. Bribery, to get admitted, is clearly an abominable act that should not be tolerated.
3
@Steve R.
It’s disappointing to read of a call to eliminate womens athletic scholarships. I support college athletics and professional women’s sports in basketball, tennis, swimming, track and field, hockey, etc. it provides educational opportunities for thousands of minorities annually.
1
SAT/ACT are only a part of an admissions application. Colleges- even elite schools- look at initiative and academic rigor in addition to test scores. There may be grade inflation in upper income areas, but it also exists in lower income areas. AP exams are often seen as a leveler. Everyone takes the same exam and course content is directed to concepts and information found on the exam. Yet there is often an issue that students take the AP course- achieve excellent grades yet decline to sit for the exam. Theoretically if a student obtains an A or even a B in an AP class, he/she should be able to easily achieve a 3 or better on the exam. Money is not an issue- both the AP and high schools will waive fees for students having low incomes or financial issues. The greater issue is a question as to whether the AP course grading was as rigorous as it should be to afford the student quality points and an excellent transcript. I personally know several individuals admitted to elite schools who presented academic records in the top 10%, in a highly competitive public school, excellent grades and terrible SATs. I know at least one student with exceptional SATs yet somewhat lesser grades who was not admitted. Schools look for individuals whose application on the whole indicates the ability to work hard.
As far as claiming ADHD for extra time- I have a child with ADHD- extra time would not make a substantial difference .
5
About the 'tutor' or test prep-- the best test prep by far now is the Khan Academy system which is free for everyone. The test prep companies use the same tests that Khan does. Students report the content on Khan academy is much better than most test prep. This is no longer a major issue for fairness unlike the timing one.
34
@Observer...you are absolutely correct! The Khan academy is the best way to prepare for the SAT. I always recommend my students (former school guidance counselor) use the Khan academy before they hire an outside tutor.
9
@Observer
My last child sat for SAT before Khan Academy. Although she was and still is an excellent test-taker, I sent her to a reasonably priced prep class (not Kaplan, Princeton, Huntington or other commercial programs) with a local entity that specialized in tutoring and exam prep. She learned content- not tricks-in addition to test taking techniques. To this day she believes the content proficiency she developed helped in college as well as on SATs.
1
Time to abolish these tests. I did horribly on the SAT and ACT but the results had nothing to do with my intelligence or aptitude. I was an excellent student. I am an accomplished violinist and pianist, I speak French, German, and Spanish fluently and I’m a successful director and producer. Please tell what exactly these tests prove? Except the test takers ability to take tests.
16
@N Your anecdote is countermanded by the one anecdote from someone who did well on the ACT. These tests don't "prove" anything. They are just one more data point. No college makes its decisions solely on one data point, and I'm guessing you went to a college that valued your music and language accomplishments. From my experience as an interviewer, though, the chip on your shoulder probably did as much harm as your test scores. The relentlessly cheerful students seem to do better at college admissions, just saying.
7
I’m sorry you interpreted my comment as me having a chip on my shoulder. I was trying to illustrate that these tests prove nothing. Instead you used it as a means to insult me. Pathetic.
2
One good way to avoid this type of cheating would be to make the SAT and the ACT untimed tests.
Why is completing a test in a certain period of time a measure of college success?
9
@Brooklyn Teacher because college assignments have to be completed in a certain period of time?
Because work assignments have to be completed in a certain period of time?
10
@Brooklyn Teacher Because truly smart children can complete the test in the required time.
4
@Tom justified the administration of timed tests because college work needs to be completed on time. True - over the course of a week, several weeks, or even an entire semester. That’s like asking people to demonstrate the ability to run a sprint in order to show that they can complete a marathon! They are two completely separate skills, even if both involve time management.
@Ayecarama said that good students are able to complete the test in the requisite amount of time. I have been a teacher for 30 years and hold 2 master’s degrees in different areas of education. I have never seen any convincing evidence to show that the ability to complete a test in some arbitrary amount of time is in any way tied to success in school.
I think that people feel the timing of such an assessment is necessary because of something else - I call it the “We’ve always done it that way” syndrome!
1
Regarding the SAT:
“But it turns out the test is highly reliable, and to remove the one objective piece of an admissions package could have unintended consequences.”
We need the SAT/ACT as grades from different high schools are not comparable. Furthermore as the article points our, the tests are a good predictor of success in college.
The anxiety around preparation for the SAT is overblown. There is nothing magical about a tutor. The SAT has released at least 8 full tests online: have your child take 1 timed test a week for 8 weeks, go over all the wrong answers and use Khan to fill in any gaps in knowledge. It works.
111
@Mom Computer-scored multiple-guess tests are peculiarly American. European school systems are much more inclined to use essay questions. Tests such as the SAT reward one particular mental skill set. It's one I personally used to possess in a high degree (98th percentile on the NMSQT in 1958 and again on the GRE in 1970 and 1975).
I have enough insight into this type of thinking to hold it in rather low esteem. It includes skill at performing a high-speed process of elimination together with a certain calculating shrewdness about what the test-writers have in mind.
As one part of a comprehensive screening process, these tests probably have their place. But such test scores don't demonstrate much about "merit."
7
Cheating isn't new. Today kids, or their parents, claim ADHD. Fifty years ago they claimed bone spurs.
28
The headline note "a Standardized Test Isn’t Always a Fair One." What on earth made us think anything should be "always" be fair? Like everything else, these tests are not perfect. But without some sort of yardstick, it's all just subjective.
But maybe subjectivity is the goal. It's what those tweet-jacketed liberals at Havard use to exclude more-than-qualified Asians.
37
@Johnny Stark: There is no such thing as "fairness". One, if they are imaginative enough, can always find an obscure angle to scream "unfairness". At least, standardized tests provide, as you point out, a "yardstick" for measuring aptitude.
6
So what's wrong with learning a trade? Why is there a stigma attached to actually learning a skill instead of taking self serving photos of yourself and drinking till you pass out? Some people should not have children if all you teach them in life is cheating. Something of a prerequisite though if you plan on becoming a politician.
8
@Margo Channing
In today's world trades require substantial math and IT proficiency. Don't assume learning and sitting for trade licensing can be done without advanced math and IT skills
1
Test scores are not relevant for many college applicants.
Taking into account the college slots taken by legacies, jocks, affirmative action admittees, and cheaters like those whose parents were arrested in the college admissions bribery scam, there aren't many slots left for qualified but middle-class, non-minority kids at the top schools.
There is no easy solution to the problem because legacies, jocks and affirmative action seem to be here to stay. And, yes, some cheaters.
5
So Islamaphobia is bad - but inferring that all white people are cheating the system because 40 people got arrested for bribery is main steam.
Point 1 - this is colorless - it’s about wealth.
Point 2 - standardized tests are how schools separate applicants. Otherwise - there is 30,000 applicants with good grades (getting high marks is easy if your dedicated - there’s extra credit for everything. The teachers want to give students good grades - it makes their performance look better and rewards students who care)
Point 3 - it’s not a question of performance - any kid who graduates high school with a 95 average can do well in college. The material is the material - they use the same text books - teach the same information.
The SAT test is an intelligence test and a knowledge test. If you have a 100 IQ - you’ll never get a 1500 on the SAT - no matter how much prep your parents pay for. However - people with a 100 IQ can get 95’s in high school with dedication and effort.
31
@Chris But the piece wrote that: "The SAT and ACT are not aptitude or IQ tests. They are intended to assess how well students have mastered standard high school reading and math concepts."
3
@Chris. Who inferred that "all white people are cheating the system"?
1
Sadly, students with legitimate processing disorders will now be viewed as cheaters. As if they didn't have enough hurdles to overcome to begin with.
22
@Frank "Sadly, students with legitimate processing disorders will now be viewed as cheaters."
That's not the reality Frank. Beyond perhaps a few peers they mingle with, it's not public knowledge.
Test scores are not relevant for many college applicants.
Taking into account the college slots taken by legacies, jocks, affirmative action admittees, and cheaters like those whose parents were arrested in the college admissions bribery scam, there aren't many slots left for qualified but middle-class, non-minority kids at the top schools.
There is no easy solution to the problem because legacies, jocks and affirmative action seem to be here to stay. And, yes, some cheaters.
1
Standardised tests are far less gameable than any of the other methods out there. The fact that people had to go to ridiculous lengths to cheat the standardised test shows that they work. They are also the only way for people who don't have the advantage of going to a good high school to stand out. Getting rid of them will mean that the only way to get out of a bad situation is noblesse oblige.
72
@Etymologist
Exactly. This scam scandal shows that we need the standardized tests more than ever.
14
@Etymologist Agreed. And what the article fails to mention is that the perpetrators also cheated on the written essays, claiming non-existent achievements. Does that mean essays should be thrown out too?
3
I know of a child with learning disabilities who has his Harvard bound cousin take his unlimited time SATs. There ought to be better supervision of who is sitting for the exam.
2
@ach
What? That might require a valid picture ID. That would offend social justice warrior progressive left wing nuts. Many states don't require a valid picture ID for voting to prevent cheating our election process.
@Old Sailor
A valid picture ID is required for both ACT and SAT (school ID, driver’s license, state ID, passport), all kids entering testing center including those with extended time must show ID
@Old Sailor My kids had to provide ID to take their SATs.
I have been a proctor for ACT extended time for over 25 years. I give-up several Saturdays a year to make approximately $1000 yearly. (Which I receive a W-2 and declare as income.) I would be so afraid of losing my teaching license and job if I was arrested by ACT, even though they are separate employers. Recently to save money the numbers of room proctors has been reduced and to make sure timing is accurate it is now run on an app. I don't understand how these proctors are so brillant they can correct students scores in the short amount of time they are alone with the test.
4
@High School Teacher
I bet they make far more than $1000 yearly, and don’t work under your constraints.
4
The problem is that without an objective way of measuring a students ability college admissions will become even more arbitrary and less fair.High school grading standards,when they exist vary too much from one school to another to compare and extra curricular and teacher evaluations are mostly cookie cutter and of little value.
61
@Michael I think you can see from a student's transcript whether they took hard courses or easy ones. The courses available at the school are also provided to colleges so they have a sense of whether rigorous coursework is available. Finally, even though this is somewhat of a barrier for the less affluent, students can take AP exams (after taking AP courses) which indicate their level of knowledge in a variety of areas. That said, I'd certainly hate to see the SATs disappear, even if their use drops only to technical schools, because kids would fail out of places like MIT, CalTech, Harvey Mudd, RIT, CMU, etc. if they could not handle a physics/calc/chem first semester course load.
5
@Chip And why would an AP exam somehow be more merit based than the SAT or ACT? Also, many smaller schools don't even offer AP classes. This was the case in my hometown, but thanks to being able to take the ACT (and scoring a 32 on it), I was able to demonstrate academic excellence beyond the rigor of my small high school.
17
@JP The AP exam is not more merit based. It is just what would be left if we did away with SAT / ACTs. And I already agreed that the AP system has high wealth barriers. I am in favor of keeping the SAT / ACT, even if only for technical schools.
3
The title of this important article should be, "College Cheating Scandal Shows that a "Standardized" Test Isn't Always STANDARD." So sad.
That outcome has been predictable since 2003, when these testing companies chose to stop providing notice to test users (like colleges and schools and parents) that the test scores were obtained with extra time. That for some, the timed tests no longer were timed! This huge loophole has now exploded.
It's time for the SAT and ACT to close that loophole. How? Here are three ways.
First, they can explain/prove to the public that timing these tests is fundamental. That is, that the skills, knowledge, and/or aptitude they test are time-dependent. Once they've done that, they should bring back the notice to test users that scores were obtained in a nonstandard way; in this case, with extended time.
Second, if they can't or won't prove the need for timing, they should stop timing anyone! That would close this loophole and end the angst.
Third, if they can't or won't do either of these, they can watch as more people lose faith in these products and stop using them.
I happen to agree with Professor Koretz that having a standardized test can be useful and important. But it's obvious that these tests no longer are.
What will these companies choose to do in response?
27
Test optional is not going to eliminate the racket surrounding these tests. They should be eliminated. They are used to make minor distinctions between candidates but the truth is those candidates, who have top grades, will do well in university regardless of how they do on a standardized test. Think of the stress that would be relieved for students and parents by eliminating these tests.
6
@Sick of the dysfunction As sick as we all are of the dysfunction, other tests will spring up as needed if these rackets are eliminated. You just can't take a student with great grades from a mediocre school and expect them to pass calculus, chemistry and physics taken in the first semester of the first year at places like MIT, even by students intending to major in a humanities area.
@Sick of the dysfunction
They should make the test even harder to distinguish between the merely good enough and the stellar.
1
What's doubly sad is how much these tests are used to diminish a child's value, and by result their self worth. I was a terrible test taker. So much pressure was put on me to succeed that I couldn't hack it.
The SAT is only an indicator of how well one can take tests, it is not an indicator of how well one will do at university, or in life. I scored very low on the SATs, especially when compared with consistently high grades in high school. As a result, I was rejected from the upper echelon schools that might otherwise have accepted me. Test results were used to reinforce negative messages. I was "bad at math", but achieved a B+ in high school calculus and an A in corporate finance at the graduate level. I was "bad at language", but got four straight semesters of A's in Chinese.
Standardised tests have been proven over and over to be a poor indicator of future performance, they should be abolished.
30
@Paris So true. I see this all the time. You have the bright students who sail through school and are good test takers who fail at the college level because they have never been challenged and you have the hard working conscientious students who have good grades in high school but are not good test takers for whatever reason who are "told" they won't cut it in college but who are the ones who excel there because they actually know how do the work. Those SAT/ACT scores are not indicative of a person's work ethic.
6
@Paris My guess is that you weren't going for a STEM degree at a heavy technical school, which is fine. There are schools and majors for which your ability to do math relatively quickly is indicative of how successful you will be in that school and major.
2
@Paris I had zero family support (was regularly told I was an "idiot") and went to mediocre schools. I was the first in my family to graduate from a 4-year college and went on to earn a Ph.D. from a top university. My high scores on standardized tests were my ticket to a better education and a bigger world. No child's worth should be diminished by poor performances on tests. Every child has unique gifts that should be nurtured, and every child's and young person's abilities mature and develop at a different rate. But contrary to the way they are often viewed and reported, these tests often offer smart, low-income kids a lifeline. They did for me, and I know I am not alone in that.
24