Right now I am trying to keep my sons’s IEP for high school and convince the special ed program that he can take a full load of classes and take level 3 & level 4 classes. He is super smart but can’t remember from day to day to turn his finished assignments in on time. He has ADHD, his medications and doctors that insurance doesn’t cover has almost bankrupted us but he deserves every opportunity because he is capable of it. He has social deficits, it breaks my heart that he doesn’t have close friends but he is brilliant. We don’t have the money to buy his way into anywhere so it’s intensely disrespectful that these people are taking his spot by cheating and bribery and destroying his actual need for extra time when taking a test because he can hear the clock ticking and it’s a distraction. He can’t tune out the world, it’s a sensory issue and people don’t understand it, so we have to beg for the opportunity for him to be in regular classes but with a few supports in place. These people are stealing from my kid.
28
Noise cancelling headphones have helped my kids while they are doing homework and using a recorder in class lectures helps as they can fill in any gaps in their notes in a quieter time and place.
1
How did Riddell meet Singer? Will I have to wait for the movie to find out?
6
If Universities can give special treatment to parents that give them very large amounts of money and to children of Alumni why should this be illegal? I think both should be outlawed, but that is a different issue.
6
Those who cheat on disabilities to take advantage of ADA are despicible people. They do real harm to people with real disabilities. The article cites four percent students who get ADA accommodations for SAT or ACT. While it may appear to be a small number, I suggest that the testing company should examine how many of these students are being admitted to top schools. The null hypothesis is that the percentage of students who get ADA accommodations AND get into top schools is no different from the percentage of students who get into these top schools and DID NOT get the ADA accommodations. Another variable to examine would be if students getting ADA accommodations for tests are from higher income household.
Such analyses would provide useful information and may raise red flags about abuse.
14
Hey this is America.
If someone notices that fairness would be increased, by permitting "sight animals" or "support animals" for the lesser-abled, then it's as predictable as tomorrow's sunrise that someone is going to try to bring a walrus onto the airplane.
I have to admit that I was comparing my test taking prowess with that of the defendant, and wondering if it might be preferable to consider federal prison, instead of an "assisted living" facility later, when perhaps I won't be so good at taking tests.
3
".... The Department of Justice, under President Barack Obama, issued guidance to testing companies in 2015 encouraging them to defer to documentation ....."
Here we go again with that administration.
From DACA, "keep your health plan" among others - it is increasingly clear that policies of that administration have serious legal issues.
Yet, no one seems to challenge them - and when challenged by this POTUS - if anything - the courts are rewarding this illegal stuff.
I would not be surprised if someone now files a lawsuit in the 9th circuit for a ban - nationwide, no less - to stop testing companies from enforcing enhanced security - using this guidance.
And amazingly, if recent history is any guide - a ban will be issued.
Finally, I have taken these tests - ok, some 50 years back. And to me, I always wondered why they give so much time to begin with.
2
Cheating on these tests has been going on since at least the early 1980s. Higher ed person here. The manner of cheating has changed over time but the basic idea -- having someone else take the test or someone "proctor" the test privately -- is not new info. People do it because it gets them into Tier One schools. All of this is wrong -- but I find the prison sentence for Riddell severe.
3
The testers have no interest in catching cheaters as it only stains their brand. Don't believe anything that SAT says about the integrity of their tests. As a former proctor, their is very little safe guards to ensure its integrity and cheating is rampart.
7
I can't help but wonder if professional cheater Mark Riddlle is related in some cosmic way to Tom Riddle, of "He Who Shall Not Be Named" fame. They seem to have similar characteristics, especially in terms of utter selfishness, thoughtlessness, readiness to harm whole groups of others for personal gain.
7
He doesnt even look 18 years old, how did he get to even sit for the exam?
3
I am not trying to down play Riddell's part in this but he was charged in an Information with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering.
This guy was an employee as far as I can tell, not the ringleader, money launderer or any other control position in this scam, so why the overkill on the charges?
This is the tip of the iceberg. The rich have been doing this for decades and will always have advantages no one else has. Lori Loughlin said it best...she thought she'd get a slap on the wrist!!
5
Originally, students who took extended time standardized testing (SAT’s anyhow) had their official scores.....those sent to Admission Offices...marked with an asterisk to indicate they were extended time. Those without real need, seeking to be given advantage, were wary of letting that fact be known. And then the College Board helped them out by eliminating the asterisk. No way to know now. This may have been an unintended consequence of aiding those with real need, but it is a real one.
5
When my son was in highschool, I noticed that his anxiety skyrocketed when he sat waiting at his school with his friends for the test to begin. They had freaked each other out about the test. He did ok on the test but I knew he could do better.
The second time I had him take it at a school where he didn't know anyone. We were totally low key the day before and driving to the school. I believe that change - which treated his anxiety - was responsible for bringing up his score from the 70% to the 95% percentile. Kids should be able to take the test anywhere.
One more loss for kids because someone abuses the system.
4
@Ellen
I had no problem having my son take one of his tests at a different school when an athletic event overlapped with our high school's test date. This isn't about taking a test at another school, or under school supervision - it's about allowing tests to be taken with independent proctors not associated with a school or school system.
6
1. This is not an excuse or acceptance of his actions
2. He should go to jail
3. But at least he wasn't super rich
4. The rich and connected who paid him should get MORE jail time than he does. They had every advantage, including legal ones, and they still chose a criminal path
22
@David
Educational testing is plain old big capitalism over reaching into the lives of children This testing business is embraced by the educational community whose sole purpose is making money for there share holders .
The mission of testing is outdated and as this scandal showed us that it’s so easy to scam the system.
Besides the cost of the tests these family members sold there souls for great test scores now that they are caught was it worth all of this effort.
The gentleman who took the tests for the underachievers once his case is settled will write a best seller , go on talk shows and play himself in the movie. I wonder why he has never been on jeopardy he’s smart ,this is a perfect example of capitalism at work,regular people are laughed at and the rich get richer
We need a rest from this soap opera . It’s hard feel anything for the underachieving children who have had everything and who pretend that didn’t know what there parents were doing for them.
The daughter who made the video saying in part she was just there for the parties was just priceless. Hard for her mom to justify to anyone why she put so much money for a child who had no interest in going to school. half a million
Maybe mom should find some minority children who are poor that need real financial aide. I don’t remember seeing a show with this actress that actually had minorities in the cast. Could be why she and others didn’t see the damage they were doing to others.
2
This is insane. We are seeking accommodations for children, including one in a medical facility. To document one request, over seventeen pages of documentation was provided to the college board six weeks ago. These children have IEPs. No decision from the College Board on these requests on behalf of children who attend a public school that serves low-income students. They are the ones paying the price. NYT reportes, please go interview families and administrators at these schools.
16
@Ann Wilson Wow -- usually if you've had an IEP for at least three years prior, there is no problem. New IEPs they make hard.
Yes, yes, yes, and double yes, as the kids say!
“The scheme took advantage of our efforts to accommodate students with disabilities.” Mr. Riddell and Mr. Singer give new meaning to the words despicable and deplorable. Taking advantage of challenged students who put in untold hours to achieve and reach a goal honestly is so far beyond the realm of decency that its hard to believe these two have a soul. Their hollow apologies are sickening.
15
Down with the College Board.
9
No one should receive extra time for taking a test.
If you want to make allowances for a student with a presumed disability then take that disability into account when you evaluate t that student's test score and compare the score to those of students without disabilities.
12
@david Wow -- do you have any idea how hard it is already to be a kid with dyslexia or extreme anxiety? They are just as smart as anyone, but it takes longer to read and process sometimes. The test is supposed to show your abilities. The extra time does that for kids that genuinely have a disability. You can't compare like that - it's not how it works. Better idea, throw out the test altogether.
3
@david
so in your world a kid with ADHD gets what 10 more points? a kid in a wheel chair 50? Does MS get you a 100 points?
what does the kid who was born without hands get?
4
try him and then lock him up for a long time.
A long sentence is appropriate.
try his lawyer with the slimy smirk also.
6
The practice of granting anyone with any "disability" the same amount (100%) of extra time is totally bizarre. Unless we assume that all disabilities impart the exact same level of disadvantage, this practice surely advantages some and disadvantages other test takers. How was that supposed to add any fairness to the process is anybody's guess.
15
You’re making an incorrect assumption. There are a variety of accommodations available for students with disabilities, with extended time being just one. In my personal experience it is not easy to receive accommodations for disabilities in school and, in turn, for the SAT. The typical experience can be grueling for students, families and educators, and requires considerable testing and documentation. Accommodations in the school setting even when authorized are oftentimes not actually provided. Daily advocacy is the norm. To be clear—100 percent extended time is not automatic for students with disabilities—the accommodation depends on the disability. Let me also be clear that for students with disabilities, an accommodation is NOT an advantage!
23
@Elizabeth
Agree Elizabeth. For students with disabilities, extra time levels the playing field. My daughter requested accomodation...had had extra time in tests through middle school, high school, and undergraduate. ETS denied repeatedly, even with plenty of documentation. Accommodations are tough to obtain, unless you rig the system.
4
Well, if you were a brilliant mind in a body that struggled or was unable to turn pages or to write or type or to talk or to read at anywhere close to the average rate for people your age and/or intelligence, you might think differently about having a bit of extra time to complete a test that is meant to assess your educational and intellectual aptitude, not your speed and ability to read/write/speak/turn pages. In his later years, Steven Hawking, the genius physicist who had ALS, likely would have needed more than 100% extra time to complete an already multi-hour exam; and it would not have been due to lack of knowledge or intelligence.
6
I'm a college professor, and I find it ridiculous when I am required to give longer periods of time to students with "learning disabilities." Either let everyone have an open-ended amount of time or let no one have an open-ended amount of time.
38
Unless you’re also a clinical psychologist or qualified practitioner you’re not qualified or empowered to determine disability or accommodations. It’s educators like you that make having a learning disability so much more difficult.
9
@Emile
Suggest you go and spend some time with the Students with Disabilities Office and gain some understanding of what this is about. This is a surprisingly ill informed statement, from one college prof to another.
10
This was the part of the scandal that bothered me the most. We all have known about the legacy students, the high money donor’s kids, the athletes, but the ACT and SAT were supposed to be the great equalizer for college admissions. It’s sad to me that the College Board is corruptible as well.
17
They weren’t corrupt. They were duped.
3
He should get an extra 6 months for showing up at court in a Ralph Lauren scarf w/ the Polo logo prominently displayed. Now that's rich.
44
@Todd S.
I’d have gotten that scarf off that guy.
6
The College Board and the SAT have had their day. It is long past time to get rid of these useless, easily gameable tests. The College Board is shocked - shocked! - that their accommodations have been weaponized. What a laugh. Every parent of a 17-year-old knows that, at minimum, you'd better cough up $600 extorted by local opportunists for SAT test-taking prep, so that your kid at has a fighting chance at a high score.
By the way, my kid is a 2016 USC graduate and got in the hard way. And yes I paid for SAT prep, which is also a form of gaming the system.
26
Parents and the others who cheated their kids' way into USC, are not victims and deserve as much punishment as the law calls for, up to and including jail time. But don't forget the kids.
Their kids were so dumb that they could not get into a so called "top" college (e.g., USC? say what?) without their parents committing bribery or hiring test takers to gain admission for the little darlings? However, it seems highly likely that most of these kids were aware of what was going on.
A proctor sat next to the kid and provided or changed test answers? The kid had to know.
Another person took the test instead of the kid? The kid had to know.
The kid took a photo on a rowing machine pretending to be a rower? The kid had to know.
The kid was given extra time to take the test due to disability? The kid had to know that he/she did not have a disability.
Were there possibly a few instances where a kid somehow did not know his parents had cheated to gain him/her admission? Maybe, but doesn't seem very likely.
Many, perhaps most, of the kids were not "caught up" in the crimes but were witting participants. To preserve any sense of decency and ethics the colleges need to investigate not just what crimes the parents and their enablers committed, but what the kids knew and did.
In any case these criminal parents' kids, witting or not, need to be expelled. After all, if a parent steals a car and gives it to his kid, does the kid get to keep the car? I don't think so.
22
Thr College Board was quick to essentially accuse an African American girl from Florida of cheating when she improved her scores more than they found acceptable. But no alarms went off when these white kids from rich zip codes suddenly needed special accomodations and improved their scores hundreds of points (at least from PSATs). Why is that?
The College Board and their outsized power needs investigation, and better yet, abolish the whole crooked testing system.
37
Funny how the SAT, which used to (fraudulently of course) bill itself as the "Scholastic Aptitude Test," using the word "aptitude" to connote some sort of fixed, unmalleable, form of ability (like "IQ" supposedly is), claiming the test was therefore uncoachable, & which, upon that fraud being discovered (that in fact it is very coachable, sustaining a multibillion dollar test prep industry to help the wealthy & upper middle class, is now claiming that this exact coachability & the fact that you can successfully train for it, is one of the "SAchievemenT"'s main virtues.
In other words, whereas ETS/College Board, a private for profit company, used to claim its test was a non-gameable objective measure of academic ability, valued & justified for that precise reason, now markets itself as a test of student 1) determination & 2) diligence to get a good SAT score combined with 3) basic intelligence & 4) parental resources, ALL OF EQUAL IMPORTANCE.
And why not? After all, the SAT is only supposed to be a predictor of 1st year college success in the form of grades. For that, "1) determination & 2) diligence to get a good SAT score combined with 3) basic intelligence & 4) parental resources, ALL OF EQUAL IMPORTANCE" is all college recruiters really need to be interested in, to meet the unversities' admissions, financial, & societal structural-functional (what education theorists call "social reproduction", class structure included) role.
In many ways, ETS as duplicitous as Riddell.
9
Under the ADA, colleges are not allowed to know who has extra time for testing (SATs or regular high school tests). If colleges were notified of accomodations, those with legitimate accomodations would happily disclose them, but those gaming the system would think twice.
8
To all those calling for the elimination of standardized testing--and replace them with what? What should be the fair, imbalanced measure of assessment that doesn't give the rich a leg up over the rest of the world? If it existed, if such a measure existed surely it would have been uncovered by now.
Standardized tests are not the problem. They reflect the problem. And one thing they do reflect faithfully is that life is unfair. People with money have real advantages over those without it and the rich wield those advantages unmercifully when it comes to their status and their kids. In that regard they are a great preparation for life in the actual world.
13
If you can't take the test in the given timeframe it's not up to us to accommodate you. The last thing we are people who can't do certain jobs in the alloted time needed to complete them.
5
No, I agree; we don't need that at all. What we need is employees whose parents were rich enough to send them to the Princeton Review.
2
A question that should be asked is what does the SAT measure.
The verbal part is a vocabulary test.
The math part contains mainly trick questions.
Neither test measures "aptitude" or innate ability or intelligence.
Probably incoming freshman with a better vocabulary and ability to solve mathematical trick questions do better in their first year.
Maybe that is important to colleges but I think there should be much less emphasis on SAT scores in college admissions.
12
@david The math part does not contain trick questions. The questions are straightforward and accurately measure a student's ability to do basic algebra and geometry. It's true that the verbal sections test a students's vocabulary, in addition to her ability to make logical inferences from what she has read. However, a student with limited vocabulary has not bothered to read. Such a student has squandered her educational opportunities, and she will not do well in college.
2
I chose to take the SAT at a school about 20 miles north of my own. My reasoning: I did not want to be around people I knew who may distract me. I also got up an hour earlier that day and ate a protein-only breakfast--no carbs. I sat on the front row so I would not be distracted by pretty girls. And wore a lose baseball cap to avoid eyelash glare from room lighting. I did much better than expected, then took it a second time and raised my score another 100 points. The key is to think and plan and perform, not cheat.
14
@Frederick Talbott Never heard of “eyelash glare”.
7
Good luck with that when you're in college the next four years.
1
I heard this statement, which is so relevant to these stories:
Colleges and universities demand the most intimate details about students and families in many areas, including finances, family composition and the like. Yet in return they provide absolutely no information about the efficacy of their programs and their processes are conducted under a shroud of secrecy.
Maybe transparency of processes and the same attention to outcomes we give to public K-12 education can help everyone involved.
19
It seems like a tremendous investment by the testing companies, which in turn is funded by families, to provide this service for colleges: namely, identifying (theoretically, anyway) students likely to succeed in college. One of the many problems not mentioned here, is that there is a low likelihood that the tests in fact do that.
This reality is likely to become even more apparent: that the tests no longer serve their purpose, if they ever did, and ought to be abandoned.
This, of course, might be problematic for colleges as it would require that they devise others methods of selection. Yet it seems, since some have removed this requirement for admission, that they have already identified alternatives.
The reality is that there are multiple avenues and opportunities into and through the higher education system. Students of all types currently find ways to utilize these various routes. Plus, the fact remains that consistently for the past few decades, that only about a third of Americans ever earn a bachelor’s degree.
Let the “elite” colleges play their games, and expect that a portion of well-to-do parents will respond with wealth-leveraged strategies to get their kids admitted. There is plenty of opportunity within the system for talented and hardworking students who are willing and able to achieve success the old fashioned way, by earning it. They will find their own route through the existing system.
6
When my daughter got a 34 on her ACT on her first try, several kids from our upper-middle class town asked her if she took Adderall to help her focus! I had never heard of this practice until then -- apparently some families get a doctor to prescribe Adderall or similar drugs to their children to ensure that they perform at their peak throughout the entire 3+ hours of testing. There are certain psychiatrists who are known to be more cooperative.
There has to be a way to blacklist or punish these psychiatrists who give out disability diagnosis and Adderall like they are candies.
21
perhaps the nature of the tests themselves need to be changed. The way they are now, by studying & memorizing you can learn to take a test-questions reused over and over.
What would happen if the tests posed questions that required students to actually apply learning, rather than spit back memorized formulas, answers to previously seen questions, etc. Different problems each time , using similar thought process. Would require more time/expense by companies to generate new test questions all the time.
personal experience attests to difference this can make. The experience changed the entire way I look & think about education and true learning.
Eons ago, I went to a mediocre upstate high school. I rarely had to do much studying to get good grades, just had to regurgitate what I learned from listening in class. I went to a very prestigious, university, majored in chemistry. My freshman year, I did study, learned the same way I had learned in HS, memorization. Then that 1st test. 10 questions posing problems. I froze as I couldn't just plug things in. I had to THINK and APPLY/INTEGRATE those things. I had my 1st and luckily last major panic attack. Could only do 1 /10. Professor realized I had problem, talked to me. He gave me extra time in his office. This allowed me to calm down and then I could think. Wound up with A. But the more valuable lesson had less to do with the chemistry than with learning how to think and use what I had memorized.
11
About the only way to ensure that any given test taker is who they say they are is to require a DNA sample upon registration for a test and then another sample upon admission to the test center. Then, the two samples could be compared should there be any question as to who took the test.
However, this does present significant logistical complexities and greater expense for test taking. Probably too burdensome.
My public high school didn't offer the April test date my junior year and the precalculus teacher insisted we take the math SAT II on the January test date. So I had to take the SAT I at a different high school. I had to present ID ( I used my student photo ID because I didn't have a license yet) and at the other high school they not only directed us to specific rooms, the rooms were alphabetical with our names alphabetically labelled on the desks. It's pretty hard to cheat under those circumstances and person next to you could have a different edition of the test.
3
Not sure why the learning disabled want to go to college, except that this meritocracy of ours dooms most people to failure, since most people aren’t at the top of all the criteria for success.
4
@Chip FYI Winston Churchill was "disabled"; he was
dyslexic...
5
Many bright people are learning disabled. It now even has a name - twice exceptional (2e), meaning a gifted kid that also has some learning disability.
Would you refuse such a kid college? How about refusing Einstein higher education?
1
You test, they cheat.
You tighten up, they find another way.
3
Since no human is “standard”. What is a standardized test? I byproduct of the eugenics movement. Why can’t education be about learning, growing, becoming better people.
1
@Corbin
Historically, in the U.S. -- as a land of immigrants -- the purpose of public education was the development of a productive, quasi-literate citizen workforce that had been exposed to a (semi) uniform set of information. It was NOT the development of a population headed towards college, university, or professional degrees.
While I agree education at its best can be about growth and learning, for at least a couple of generations now that decidedly has not been the case.
To our collective detriment higher ed has come to be about getting a credential; not becoming a well-rounded, universally curious, kind, interesting, or contributing human being.
8
It's more imporant that the SAT can be gamed legally. SAT prep courses, costing tens of thousands of dollars, continue to grow, because the parents' grapevine knows that they work. No 100% guarantees, but SAT prep considerably improves the odds of a significantly higher score.
It's time to retire the SAT. It doesn't do what it may have done originally, namely, to find impressively capable students from unknown or poor backgrounds. Now it's just one more leg up for people from privileged backgrounds.
48
Churchill supposedly said of democracy that it is the worst form of government, except for all the others. SATs are the worst way to judge a student's aptitude, except for all the others. If you think that getting rid of standardized tests will somehow make college application fairer, you are ignorant of history, psychology, and economics. There is no way to compare grades across the thousands of schools across the US, and, then, of course, there are the homeschooled and the kids from foreign schools. Rich people pay a fortune to private schools; the schools know very well which side of the bread is buttered, and they grade accordingly. Affluent parents hire tutors to write admissions essays, they pay for their kids to play lacrosse and water polo and all those other rich people sports, and they can afford to create elaborate resumes stuffed with internships and trips abroad.
The SATs are lousy. They're still the best thing we have to level the playing field.
19
The SAT is a timed test, and I wonder if anyone should get more time to take it. Do some college students get more time to take tests? Once college students get jobs, customers and clients will not be willing to wait twice as long for their work to be done because a worker is disabled.
6
@Beliavsky
College students, as well as elementary and secondary students, have received accommodations for many years. Your equation of performance of work tasks with test-taking is a false one.
I've supervised extended time examinations for persons ranging from middle-school age to credentialed professionals. It is frightening to see how limited the concept of accommodations --what they are, who is affected, and in what ways, and the range of professions in which persons with accommodations thrive -- seems to be in U.S. culture.
5
@Beliavsky Exactly. Am I supposed to give my lawyer a pass if he doesnt file my claims on the deadline because he has a "learning disability?"
Good luck staying in business. People expect results on their timeline, not making excuses for disabilities.
2
As a litigator myself, I can tell you there are pretty much no tasks in the legal profession that resemble a standardized test—I have never been told I must answer a series of multiple choice questions in 3 hours or else my client will lose. That’s not how this profession works, and it’s not how most of the world works.
I know many very talented lawyers who have learning disabilities. Someday, you might find yourself sitting across a courtroom from one of them—and you might lose. I have never seen a learning disability stand in someone’s way to being a fantastic and effective litigator.
8
I had to take all my SAT tests at another school (I did not require special accommodation). I attended a public school but took all my exams at a local private school. I was required to show ID, as did seemingly everyone there. I can’t imagine anyone except ardent “Beverly Hills, 90210” viewers, who would ever think middle aged men look like high school students.
I have a very low opinion of the College Board and all their exams, and I think they have sold the country a bunch of nonsense that allows them to make a phenomenal amount of money. I hope this helps put an end to their influence.
7
@Raindrop I think the man only was present in situations where the students took the exam privately due to their “disability.” He was then able to change answers on tests so the desired score was attained.
2
The real issue is not security for tests; it's the bogus scam of doctors and neuropsych professionals who produce false supporting documentation for accommodations for pay. In my (well-off) community, the professionals who provide these services are well-known and are STILL operating, despite the college admissions scandal. I know of a high junior who received time and a half on the ACT--the most frequently granted accommodation—just last week, straight A student, no previous diagnosed learning disability, no known history of approved accommodations. It's always frustrated me how craven the ACT is in giving in to parents who have all the time and resources in the world to devote to this and threaten to "lawyer up" if the ACT turns them down (fyi, extra time doesn't make as much of a difference on the SAT as compared to the ACT, where the sections move much more quickly).
Conversely, students who don't have the accommodations feel increasingly angry and frustrated that they are potentially losing out in the college admissions pool to students who have in effect, cheated. The solution is simple: pass a regulation requiring that any accommodations be listed on the student score report, the way it used to be before the practice changed around 2003.
8
The parents who "purchased" a learning disability for their kids have said their children knew nothing about the scheme. So tell me how a kid who has to go to a special location, even out of state, doesn't know that there is fraud involved? Their peers were taking their SAT's at their own high schools.
It's not that I think these children should be criminally liable, but I would certainly appreciate having their parents told not to lie further by telling the press that their children didn't have any idea what was going on. And yes, their admissions to schools under false pretenses should be rescinded.
11
@Alice S And did the students not think it strange that all of a sudden they had a “disability “ junior year that required extra time on tests that they’d never had before? Surely their parents must have suggested the idea to them. They might not have known that their answers were changed on the tests but they must have known that they didn’t have a true disability and that they were gaming the system .
2
Extended time is not gaming the system for gifted students with IQs at the 99th percentile but cognitive processing indices at the 50th percentile or lower. Visit the websites of major research universities and you will find an section on accommodations and disabilities. Step into the lecture halls of engineering, medical and STEM schools and you will find students who need these accommodations to function at their peak intellectual capacity. It is simply how they are neurologically wired. They did not receive these "2e perks" because mom and dad were smart, educated and hustled the system. Professors who have worked with students with rare analytical ability know that gifted students learn and process differently compared to your average test prepped student seeking an inside edge at an elite university.
11
Regarding the 100% time extensions, this seems like a problem with psychiatrists. These are professionals who are lying for money. They should be punished severely and perhaps even stripped of their credentials. What else will a dishonest psychiatrist do?
5
The "special needs" accommodations are themselves an opportunity for massive abuse. It's beyond the College Board to do anything about that. The same accommodations are similarly abused in test taking in university courses.
4
As a former teacher, abuse of the IEP system is rampant and ridiculous.
I remember one student who talked constantly in class, disrupting everyone around her and making teaching extremely difficult. She was very smart and had no learning disabilities, just extremely loud and chatty. When we spoke to the parents, they had an IEP drawn up for her and we could no longer legally chastise her for talking loudly in class because it would be violating her special accommodations.
This is just one example of many. This is not to mention the fact that keeping track of every student's IEP's (let alone implementing them) was a full-time job in and of itself.
The worst part of all, though, was that IEPs were based almost entirely on the "squeaky wheel" parents, who were inevitably better off and more involved. Meanwhile, the struggling poor students with absentee parents who could have actually needed help (of which there are many in DC public schools) suffered.
103
I have rarely seen so many ableist comments gathered in one thread. If a student has dyslexia, there is no question that it will take them longer to read and record their answers. If a student has dysgraphia, hand writing their essay will result in an inaccurate measure of knowledge; it will likely be illegible. Accommodations are meant to level the playing field, not give anyone an advantage. In fact, some studies indicate that extended time only benefits a narrow band of students and can be detrimental to those who do not actually need it. The recent move to untimed standardized tests for all NYS students in grades 3-8 has had mixed results.
It's unsettling that people are targeting students with disabilities, rather than casting blame on their non-disabled peers who knowingly took advantage. Or their powerful parents, whose disdain for the rights disabled people have fought so hard for, used unfair advantage to cheat. Or the system that places so much emphasis on a single test by a strangely profitable "not for profit" corporation.
26
@Kristi Exactly. My daughter received extended time on the ACT and we had to provide much documentation (that included multiple neuropsych evaluations/testing over the years). She took the exam at her high school. She'd been diagnosed with a LD in elementary school that impacts executive function/processing speed, but despite that, is an excellent student. She is now attending a very academic liberal arts college and doing well. She works extremely hard. In fact, I find it useful when discussing an academic "disability" to note that one often has to work twice as hard to get half as far. Needless to say, she had her grades and (legit) extracurricular achievements that supported her application and she was accepted early admission. Her college actually eliminated the standardized test requirement the following year which, I believe, is a good thing. The SAT/ACT industry is ultimately a racket that does not truly measure a student's capability to do well in college.
15
@Ellen Subject specific courses are often a better measure of preparation for a major than SATs. High school Latin is excellent preparation for the study of Romance Languages as are other Romance Languages. (Studying Spanish or French usually means taking a placement test to take more Spanish or French). Your high school math and science grades are often a good indicator of whether you'll do well in college chemistry. Yes there are exceptions, but as a general rule, high school grades and transcripts can often be more helpful for at least some majors.
2
@Kristi I am a student with Dyslexia. I did not even finish the ACT my first sitting. Thankfully they extended my time.
8
As a professional working in the schools in the special needs field there are a battery of tests given to a student to qualify them as special needs, many of them in the area of speech and language. In my experience, a qualification from a sole, private psychologist does not meet this criteria.
9
@EB
Having been a university administrator overseeing tens of thousands of SAT and ACT (as well as GRE, LSAT, PCAT, MCAT, etc) administrations -- in addition to proctoring one-on-one accommodations of all manner of certifications, I can assure you that multiple assessors for permitting accommodations testing are not required.
The instructions on the College Board's site outline what evaluation criteria qualify a test-taker to have accommodation(s). While the site lists a battery of acceptable diagnostic tools, as well as requests for information from a student's school, nowhere is there a stipulation that evaluations are required from more than a single, qualified practitioner.
4
CDC puts the prevalence of ADHD (the most typical disability accommodation for test takers) to be around 5%.
Research indicates that the % of kids that request accommodation is similar or lower at schools in poor areas but can reach up to 25% at schools with affluent children.
Importantly, the accommodation carries through in college, with the lowest rates in public and the highest rates at elite colleges.
The internet is rife with information on how game the system.
23
As many noted, there are many, many people who are abusing this and it is widely known by doctors who are asked for notes about patients. The 'disability' requiring extra time is suddenly discovered around junior year. Private schools encourage students to apply for extra time in some cases.
Time is big issue on these tests as extra time can make a big impact on scores. So this is unfair to all, the students with legitimate disabilities and the ones taking the test under regular time pressure.
Meanwhile the college board is trying to sweep this under the rug by focusing on people taking tests at a different location instead of the abuse of extra time.
15
@Observer I believe this to be false. A "note" is not sufficient. One has to submit extensive documentation including a battery of neuro-psych test results in order to get an accommodation for a LD. At least that was our experience. The only drawback to these rigorous requirements is that it's expensive to get a neuropsych evaluation. Though my daughter had full testing done several done over the years, starting in kindergarten, the ACT required an up-to-date one and so we had to spend thousands of dollars to updated results that essentially mirrored the same test results as earlier ones. She did ultimately receive extra time, but took the exam at her high school. I can't believe they allow these off-site arrangements for students from afar use.
7
@Observer Nobody is "trying to sweep this under the rug." College Board is moving to enhance its security.
Your argument might be more compelling if you cited specific instances where fraud is apparent or proved in the cases of people applying for extra time on the tests.
1
None of these actions address the issue that a 36 year old man was 1) taking the exams in place of male and female high school students, 2) taking the exam tens of times, and 3) taking the exam across multiple jurisdictions.
The College Board needs to institute something like fingerprinting or even surveillance to ensure that the person who's name is on the test is actually taking it.
Also, maybe we need to revisit allowing extra time on these exams? There just doesn't seem to be a good way to ensure that these accommodations aren't misused by those with the financial means to procure a fake doctor's note.
Maybe everyone should take the test under the same conditions and timing and the disabled should be able to append a doctor's note to their score or some other notice. Or, maybe we (colleges, society) should re-visit having a timed, stressful test as a useful benchmark of aptitude?
21
A few thoughts...
I have a "504 plan" child. He took the SAT only once and did fine. I would not expect that every truly disabled child would have this outcome on the first try. It bugs me to no end that non-special needs children who are playing this angle.
Multiple takings of the SAT test is just a money grab by ETS. What do they care? It's all about the (a) Benjamins (b) Grants (c) Franklins (d) All of the above.
And finally... what happened to the "strictly enforced" rule presenting a photo ID that matched the name on the test application?
17
Leave it to US parents to take legitimate accommodation -- extra time on the SAT for kids with some major disability -- and turn it into a "loophole" to exploit, a la tax loopholes and tax cheats!
The situation is no doubt made worse by the almost comically absurd, disorganized situation at many SAT test sites. Disorganization, confusion, proctors who sometimes seem to have little idea what they're doing, etc, etc.
ETS makes $BILLIONS from the SAT and its other tests, but hires proctors on the cheap to enhance their profits.
A scandalous state of affairs itself. I hope the Times will look into this aspect!
36
I have known several people whose children have gone through school successfully without any special accommodation and then suddenly in the middle of their child's sophomore year of high school they discover he/she has a "learning disability." Mind you, this is after they have taken the PSAT, which is a good predictor of how a child will score on the SAT, but before the actual SAT test. To ensure the Americans With Disabilities Act is not used to game the system, the College Board should require some sort of documented history of disability on file with the child's school. It is only fair to both those students with disabilities and those that spend countless hours studying hard to do well on the test.
46
@CAM College Board does require documentation from the school which the student attends. Each student that applies for an accommodation must be approved by the school he or she attends, for an accommodation at the school first. Then allowed to apply to the College Board for an accommodation. It's up to the school accommodation department to decide whether that student qualifies for an extended time, or any other type of accommodations. So if there are any questionable students who get accommodated, that's not really College Board's fault, but rather the the individual school's lack of oversight.
I want to concentrate my comments on the "extra time " for the learning disabled. So those students might apply later to be an airline pilot or a surgeon, and when they have an emergency, they are going to ask for "extra time " to deal with bleeding or a plane pointing its nose down? Accessibility is one thing, creating circumstances to equalize artificially the results is another. It reminds me of the futuristic book where the most intelligent people have to wear thought disrupting helmets by low, so their intellectual advantage can be brought to the mean. What next, the fastest runners will be forced to wear weights on their legs?
I guess correctness taken to the extreme.
29
@EK Excellent point about the danger of giving students 'extra time' when taking entrance exams for medical school or other careers where time is of the essence. I know of just such a case where an individual applied to medical school and was given extra time for the MCAT. She took the exam over a two day period and received a very high score. She was accepted by an elite medical school and failed her first year. She is now retaking that first year. I only know this because I have child who graduated from that elite medical school and is now a resident at one of the top research hospitals in the country. When there is an emergency in the ER, OR, ICU, etc...no one gets 'extra time.'
13
@EK As a physician though -- who did not get extra time on any test -- I will point out that testing for MDs is shifting away from timed tests which focus on memorization. Once you are an MD, the maintaining your license and certifications focuses more on continuous, self-paced learning and improving your practice. There are timed tests but that's not all of it. While it's true some situations in medicine require very quick decisions, esp. say if one is an ER doc or a surgeon, many other situations depend on the doctor's willingness to take the time to look up conditions, issues they don't understand and then apply it to the patient.
6
What I don’t get is why the parents of a child being branded as “learning disabled” would even want their child at Harvard or the equivalent. They’re talking out of both sides of their mouth: “my poor learning disabled child needs double time on the SAT” and “my brilliant child is more than able to handle the work at a top-10 college and therefore deserves acceptance there.” Well, which is it?
75
@C It appears that they don't publicly disclose who is disabled and gets more time. It appears likely that the colleges just get the score report which does not indicate that extra time was given.
Consequently, there's no branding. This is just a covert way to game the exam.
6
@C It is because the poorest students at Harvard earn grades of A- while the brighter ones earn A grades. Of course you want your child to have a Harvard degree with a 3.7 GPA! Check out: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/12/9/stats-grade-inflation/
2
@C I'm a student with an LD who may apply to T-20 schools. This comment is incredibly insensitive as you are assuming LD = Lack of Intelligence. Most colleges are very inclusive and will accommodate extended time.
10
The 'weaknesses' have nothing to do with the actual test. They are security lapses occurring at individual schools.
3
Why not eliminate these tests entirely.
It’s clear from this article and many studies that some people are just excellent test takers. That doesn’t mean they will be best equipped to lead or create or do any of the things we want our “best and brightest” to do.
SATs are just a cheap way for colleges and universities to screen candidates and tell themselves they are acting in an even handed and unbiased way. Everything about this latest scandal puts the truth to that lie.
We need a new admissions system. One that isn’t based upon a single moment in a child’s life- the taking of a high stakes test.
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@Bobby
Because there are ENORMOUS variances in the quality of high schools throughout the country. I went to college with a valedictorian NY who, quite frankly would have failed out of my high school. She could not do basic algebra, or write a freshman essay. First in her class.
16
@Bobby Well, from what I understand, many schools still take grades into account. Yes, grades are based on testing but they are also based on homework, projects, participation, etc. over time.
4
One question I have is whether the schools know that someone has gotten extra time to take a test. It seems that any result where the taker has gotten an accommodation should be flagged so that the college is aware of that accommodation when making admissions decisions.
8
@Matt J.
In the past, test scores with extended time were marked with an asterisk on college applications, but this was deemed to be discriminatory against learning disabled college applicants and therefore is no longer differentiated. I agree with other comments that there should be more verification on who truly deserves extended time. Although they claim only 5% of test takers get extended time, I would love to see the geographic location of these students-- Are they highly concentrated in affluent areas where savvy parents can pay to have their children tested by psychologists? If you didn't need extended time until you take your SATs are you truly learning disabled? NYC should also be looking into this regarding the SHSAT testing for specialized schools as well. It is shocking what some parents will do to give their children a leg up!
14
@Trish H.
Thank you for your response. If it is not flagged, I guess I don't understand then why anyone should get extra time. If you have a learning disability why should you get more time than the kid who has an "intelligence disability" (made up term for someone who maybe isn't as smart as the next person). And lets not even get into the whole unfairness of rich kids getting test prep. If I had to bet, this 5% with extra time skews to the wealthy. The point of the test is do create a level playing field (I realize that is not the case, but giving extra time only skews the result).
2
About correlation of learning disability designation with affluence- it well may be so. Mostly because neuropsychological tests are expensive (thousands of $). Only some can afford them.
In terms of accommodating so called ‘intelligence disability’ - it wouldn’t work. SAT only touches on the actual intelligence.
Mostly SAT tests test-taking skills. This giving a ‘intelligence disabled’ kid extra time would do not a thing.
Plus who do you think would do well in college - a bright kid with some learning issue (like Einstein or Churchill) or a not so bright kid (I am sure you can fill in the blank)?
2
Testing is a fraught subject all the way around, especially any standardized- including college entrance and K-12 achievement tests. The mandates placed on schools with "no child left behind" made teachers teach to tests, as we know. As a teacher, I say we always need multiple measures to assess progress, and "success" needs to be carefully defined and advertised. We know there are colleges that don't give grades at all, or tests for that matter. We know that these college entrance exams measure only certain skills, primarily *how to take a test*. Yes anyone can study hard and pass, as many commenters noted. That's not always a flaw. After all, in my class, you can pass my test if you study! Isn't that the whole idea? The real question is what the college entrance tests are supposed to show? ability to study? innate intelligence? preparedness for college? And that leads back to multiple measures. So colleges require essays (often written by others- just look at tutoring request at major sites like Wyzant), or resumes with summer internships, etc. All of course easier for someone with money than without. For the large numbers of college applicants annually, there is just no way to individually assess each student personally (a job interview), and so other means are used. But I agree, the tests should be further restricted and secured, and it wouldn't hurt to reconsider them completely.
10
I really appreciate the last few paragraphs of this article. The deep secret of the SAT and similar tests is that they it is not that difficult to improve one's scores in a legitimate way. All that's required is putting in the time to do practice problems and practice tests and review the answers.
As a former private tutor, I guided dozens of students through this process. But the truth is that I wasn't necessary. The students could have done it on their own if they had the discipline.
38
@Locho
I agree. Many years after graduating from college, I went back to school to get my graduate degree. Many things I had learned but hadn't used were very vague and discouraging. I got the testing books and studied myself silly. I ended doing well on the GRE. It was a terrific refresher and learning tool. Someone with disabilities may need extra help but most people should be able to prepare themselves for these tests with a little work. If they can't, I doubt they belong in an elite school to start with. Neither I nor my children went to elite schools and we have all been very successful in our lives.
17
@Locho Yes. I would appreciate it, if people would stop lambasting the exam as some sort of unfair tribulation. Does it favor the students who have access to more financial/preparatory resources? Of course, but what test or objective exam doesn't? It's an imperfect tool designed to evaluate a student's readiness in the areas of basic arithmetic and reading comprehension with a secondary goal of seeing the ability of students to adapt efficiently to a menial task.
Anyone can score well on these exams (certainly the top half of scores) if you even remotely prepare yourself. With more practice and repetition, it becomes simple to score in the top quartile of test takers (because the 75th percentile level is extremely low to begin with in the states).
I have no words or explanation for those without an actual mental retardation claiming or demanding extra time on standardized exams. I would guess that this is something that happens much more in the U.S. than other countries' standardized exams, but I do not know.
1
The College Board must be freaking out. This scandal comes on top of the Chinese test-sharing problem revealed last year and the ever-increasing number of selective colleges that are going test-optional.
Very tough on the bottom line. All they can do now is nudge kids to take the test more frequently and create ridiculous early deadlines for the AP test. Not a good look.
27
@Cousy, yes, I'll believe College Board is taking security seriously when I see it. I am disgusted by them, most especially from the re-use of the test last Fall of an entire test that had been given in China, and circulated as a practice test here. Not a single score was rescinded, even though I know of at least 3 students that saw their scores vaulted to 99th %ile through having seen their very test the previous day. (no fault of the students)
2
The entire college admissions process is a complete joke. It is poorly and unfairly conceived and executed by college admissions committees, the SAT, the ACT, and high school guidance counselors (including private counselors).
In the earlier part of the 20th century, colleges thought nothing of having quotas against Jews, and of course keeping women out of the most elite universities and colleges. To counterbalance the Jewish quota problem, the SAT (and later the ACT) were dreamed up. But of course, that created an arms race involving private tutors and test prep that onlythe wealthier families could afford. The standardized test companies placed emphasis on application essays that could be -- and often were/are -- written by just about anyone. And then they inflated grades to the point of meaninglessness (some schools will have 17 or more valedictorians in a class). Foreign students are gaining more and more seats for one simple reason: they don't get financial aid. Daddy and Mommy Warbucks can still fund a new chemistry building and get Bobby admitted to Princeton, and legacy admissions are still giving lots of rich kids a huge leg up into Harvard. And now we have: Varsity Blues.
There are no good solutions that would give each applicant a fair shake, and there never will be. Anyone wondering whether they've helped their kid "enough" to gain admission to Stanford or the Ivies should know that they haven't and that their kid isn't going to be admitted.
14
@ALB, sadly, mostly true. The attempt to use class rank as a method to offer admission has been only partly successful in Texas, where the top 6-8% in each graduating class are offered admission to the main university campuses (not top 10% because there are too many students to accommodate, so a referral system sends them off to the secondary campuses of the three main universities).
This system is not without flaws, but it does provide an application blind, need blind, family influence blind method to extend opportunity. In addition, it places the burden of successful preparation on the high school because the failure rate of students reflects badly on the schools and discourages subsequent applications.
8
@ALB-Daddy and Mommy Warbucks endowing a school with money is benefitting all the students. It is the families who pay top dollar and give large donations that allow the colleges to admit students who are not paying full tuition. While it may not seem fair, poorer students are still getting a benefit. The celebrities who cheated in this scandal paid bribes to private individuals with no benefit to other students.
10
@S.L.
Your argument defies logic. US colleges are sitting on a combined pile of $600 billion. Middle class parents bear the brunt.
4
My son recently took a required “Character Skills Assessment Test” administered by the SSAT (Enrollment Management Association) for students applying to private middle schools. The SSAT scored his test incorrectly not once, but twice. They sent him (along with many other students whose scores were incorrect) an email months after the test explaining they had “accidentally” applied the high school scoring scale to the middle school test takers on certain dates. They promised to correct the scores within a week (the incorrect scores had already been sent to schools—implying my son had low scores in self control, motivation, etc). We were shocked when the “corrected” scores came back nearly identical. He was then told he could retake the test, which was a complete nuisance but felt like his only option. After retaking the test, they sent another email saying the “corrected” scores were also incorrect. After months of this back and forth, he finally received scores that better reflected his “character skills” but I have zero faith in the integrity of standardized testing companies after this experience.
28
Well, that takes care of the blatant fraud.
Why is it that the kid who has trouble finishing a test but does not seek accommodations get punished when the kid who has trouble finishing a test and does seek accommodations gets rewarded?
It is time for everyone to read the short story Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut. Let's have a national discussion about ability, achievement, and whether making everything fair all the time is in the best interest of our society.
Should people who are young for their grade be given accommodations? How about people who do very well in school but don't like to sit still for 3 hours straight? Should athletes who have saccade eye movement (good for detecting threat or the ball) which makes it difficult for them to read smoothly be given accommodations? What about zombies who spend a lot of time on their phones at night? People with small bladders? Restless leg syndrome? Distractingly pretty? Viral syndrome? Poison Ivy? Pet to feed?
Colleges: THIS IS YOUR FAULT and your problem to solve.
40
So if you can take a course and jump up your score as the testing company suggests at the end, what is this test even capturing?
Seems ridiculously bogus. Not a cognitive abilities test at all but simply another thing that can be legitimately games. And many to make big bucks feom rich kids paying test courses to get those gains.
10
@Sara
Exactly. I'm surprised more comments don't mention this.
These tests purportedly measure "aptitude" for college work. But the College Board says, according to the article, that scores can be significantly improved by signing up for its own test-prep service.
So does this test-prep routine actually increase the students' aptitude for college work, which is then reflected in a higher score? No, of course not. It simply is a way to study for a particular test.
The statement by the College Board's Peter Schwartz that "You can take it, you can study for it, you can get good at it" effectively argues against the test measuring what it claims to measure, and completely against its claimed usefulness.
10
@JF - Originally, the SAT was the Scholastic Aptitude Test. When it became clear that test prep could increase scores, it was renamed the Scholastic Achievement Test.
1
What has happened to the children in this scandal who were admitted to colleges? What are the colleges doing with these students?
5
@Gail H. Goodman, at least two have been expelled and several others have not received any admissions. As for those who have degrees or are currently enrolled, some colleges have blocked their transcripts and further registration, while they figure it out. It seems they are trying to sort whether the students were witting or unwitting participants in the scheme.
6
@Gail H. Goodman Also will students be admitted off the wait list when they were passed over to make room for the cheaters.
1
I cannot be the only one to notice that several of those who paid bribes were in positons of high responsibility such as lawyers and financial managers. But, I suppose this behavior is not unusual among lawyers and investment bankers.
66
@Burton
And even more, what does that say about these particular professionals' views of ethics, fairness and breaking the rules to win? Makes me think they'd have no compunction about skirting rules to "win" with investment deals, legal cases, etc. A look into some of their other work might not be a bad idea.
3
I have a friend with an actual learning disabled son.
The troubles she and her son had with college board trying to get approved for that extra time (time that corresponded to the "certified" disabilities supporting him in actual school)...
Let's just say they could write a book.
11
The very concept, "...have their children certified as learning disabled, and ask for 100 percent extended time to take the SAT or the ACT" , is, at once, an outrageous sham if a child is anything less than actually having need to accomodate an actual disability.
Having worked in large-scale assessment of special education, I can tell you that the special education community, students, parents, teachers, guidance counselors, psychologists, and administrators have all worked too long, too hard, too courageously, and too little recognized to have their work, dedication, professionalism, emotions, and good will be marginalizied by cynical parents who are too wealthy, entitled, and arrogant that they would encourage their children to jump the line to take the place of another vastly more deserving kid.
Just thinking about it upsets me more than anything I've read this year.
74
@JS the concept itself is a form of jumping the line. We all have various gradations of "disabilities" in some aspects of the human experience. My job does not accommodate me with the same pay as someone who is more productive than I am. I can't go into my boss's office and argue that I need more time to get my work done (at her expense) because I have difficulty concentrating. Life is unfair and we each need to do the best we have with our particular set of attributes. Some of us have difficulty with advanced math, while others find it intuitively simple. And those with advanced math skills may suffer in another area. We all know that but we want our kids to believe in the Easter Bunny at least until the get into college.
23
I don't know how it could be done, but there should be some way to punish the doctors, psychologists, etc., who hand out "disability" assessments for their wealthy clients. It really isn't any different than handing out prescriptions for opiates in pill mills.
132
@Frank O There will always be ways to game the system, this is simply one aspect. Another, glaring one, is parents holding kids back year before starting school to have an advantage. Another is transferring schools to repeat a grade and improve. Some parents I know have done both, so their child is a full two years older by graduation.
8
@Paulo Looked at from a different angle, why should a child who is 3 or 6 or 12 months behind his/her age group in some area have to start out with an experience of failure at school, when waiting till next year would allow the child to be successful? Or why should any child be passed along to the next grade before thoroughly mastering the materials of the current grade, risking failure or aversion all through the school years? The "lock step" approach of most schooling does not fit all. What is wrong with parents and school staff making individualized decisions for individual children? (and given the lock-step norm, the child might find it distressing to repeat the grade at the same school)
5
@Frank O the article points out that under President Obama's guidance orders the encouraged testing companies to 'defer' to recommendations from 'qualified professionals' to ignore a denial of a student's claim to being 'learning disabled' by the student's own school.
1
What does the SAT measure? Readiness for college? Intelligence? Grasp of high school course material? None of the above it appears. According to the General Counsel of the College Board it measures one's ability to study for the SAT.
The SAT and ACT have been boondoggles from their inception. This scandal is just one more reason to consign them to the scrap heap.
55
@Alex SAT score is a very good predictor of success in college especially in the absence of the other key predictors: college graduate parents and a not poor family. Other similar tests, the MCAT and LSAT, are even better at predicting success in medical school or law school.
29
@Alex To their credit, more and more schools are devaluing test scores for admission, and not simply because of cheating. Some schools admissions teams even claim they don't refer to test scores at all.
1
A much greater form of abuse is the practice of having kids take the SATs multiple times. Its not illegal but it ought to be.
Why? Well, one rich kid I know took the SAT test 14 times. Yes, 14 times. He got good at it, good enough to get into the college his parents wanted him to attend.
Everyone should be tested, if at all, under the same circumstances.
34
@David McDonald
twice should do it,
and report all scores.
as it was done in the 80s.
22
@David McDonald
"A much greater form of abuse is the practice of having kids take the SATs multiple times."
Colleges see the number of times a student takes the SAT. Anyone taking the test 14 times (or even 5) waves a huge red flag to admissions offices that something's not right.
6
@David McDonald
I beg to differ. Any student willing to study that hard and take the test 14 times is demonstrating the type of determination to succeed that any college would want to see in a student. Much to my chagrin, my son balked at taking it a second time.
5
These unneeded tests are all-around ridiculous. Just another way for for-profit companies to make money off kids. End them now.
17
So, at the end of this story the SAT’s own executive admitted that the SAT isn’t a measure if intelligence or skill. The test simply rewards those who have the time and resources to prepare for the test. The more money you put into the College Board’s program the better you will do. It’s a scam.
86
@M I don't agree with them or you. No matter how much students study, if they are not good readers or good math students, they won't do well. Over the last few years, the tests have changed and are now focused on reading comprehension. Students who don't read won't do well. Those who don't read also won't do well in college. As a retired teacher and college counselor, I can tell you that there's a tremendous increase in students with 4.5 GPA's and low SAT scores. Grades are no longer an accurate assessment, so something like the SAT is essential to evaluating students' abilities to deal with the stress of college. The colleges are looking for students who will be successful in their schools. If students are admitted and then flunk out, the schools lose money and prestige. I don't have a solution, but eliminating the tests is not a good idea.
32
@M Empirical data shows that you can only improve your scores up to a point -- the upper range of your IQ -- beyond which, no matter how much money you throw at it, you won't do any better.
Getting rid of the SAT/ACT's will benefit wealthy people who are able to afford private coaching in elite sports like fencing and water polo which are a lot less competitive than inexpensive sports like football and basketball. Their children will have a much better opportunities to do well enough to be recruited, or at least, well enough to become captains.
Think carefully before you start advocating to get rid of the one thing money can't buy.
3
The industry of providing papers claiming a disability that requires additional time has exploded - you just need a "doctor" claiming a need. I have lost count of the many families who pay for reports that guarantee more time (some times unlimited time) on class and standardized test. It is a disservice to everyone, to the kids who really deserve extra time and to all the kids who take the tests fairly!
Let's reserve the extra time to the few kids who actually deserve it. People getting extra time (like those getting a vaccine exemption) should jump through rigorous, objective hoops.
75
I have never understood the basis for allowing some test takers additional time to complete the test. Speed in completing a test either is or is not a salientl factor in the evaluation of a test result. If it is a salient factor no one should be given additional time. If is not salient, everyone should be allowed whatever time they need to finish the test.
107
@Carl Vaccaro New York State Tests for 3rd through 8th Grade are no longer timed. I cannot say that it is the ideal solution -- some kids feel compelled to take all day to complete the tests -- but at least no one is gaming the extended time option!
3
@Carl Vaccaro
Have to say, this is an excellent point!
3
@Carl Vaccaro I agree with you. In my field, medicine, maintenance of certification has shifted over the years to require documented continuous learning or efforts to improve care rather than timed tests. The reality is most medical care -- given a few exceptions like in the ER or on the operating room table -- is not primarily based on speed and memorization. Rather, as medicine becomes more complex, it's more about spending time to look up information and figuring out how to apply it to each patient.
2
Overseas, test center owners are known to take bribes and allow professional writers to sit the test on behalf of test takers with the means to pay. It is thus important not to rely on a single score for college admissions. The reality is that those who can cheat will cheat. Some times, I have seen no correlation between test scores and performance for students coming from particular overseas cities.
16