Accommodation Nation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will no longer subscribe to the Atlantic or even add traffic to their site, but I can imagine what the rest of the article is like. You know what the solution is to this 'problem'? Give everyone extra time - it is ridiculous, particularly at the college level, to think one person is smarter or better educated or better prepared because it takes them less time to solve a problem or write an essay than the next person.

A person who can solve a problem faster than everyone else henerally is smarter than everyone else

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three things are true:

1. There are kids who legitimately need accommodations and should receive them.

2. There are an unknown number of families (disproportionately UC) who falsely claim disabilities to get an unfair advantage.

3. There’s also a group of kids with typical abilities and traits whose personality challenges have led to a “disability” label, not to gain an advantage but bc of the current trend towards medicalization. Many well-meaning people and parents in this group, but an inappropriate result nevertheless.

Our inability to distinguish between these groups is the root cause of the problem described in the article.

It's mostly #2

PP here. I suspect it’s mostly #3.

I’m astonished by the number of genuinely caring parents who take their kids to doctors or therapy or go through assessments for “normal” kid issues.

Not to mention the trend of starting kids on therapy who have no current need for it whatsoever, to “get them used to it.” SMH.

I’m okay with parents sending their kids to therapy, they can learn great coping strategies. It’s academic accommodations I think that do a disservice to them and others.

[Anonymous]

At my school (named directly in the article), most of the students I know with accommodations were playing up allergies/asthma to get permission to have AC units in their rooms. Those numbers are extremely overinflated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Three things are true:

1. There are kids who legitimately need accommodations and should receive them.

2. There are an unknown number of families (disproportionately UC) who falsely claim disabilities to get an unfair advantage.

3. There’s also a group of kids with typical abilities and traits whose personality challenges have led to a “disability” label, not to gain an advantage but bc of the current trend towards medicalization. Many well-meaning people and parents in this group, but an inappropriate result nevertheless.

Our inability to distinguish between these groups is the root cause of the problem described in the article.

From the perspective of private school disabilities/accommodations office, with a trained PsyD on staff, it is almost all a version of #3:
Parents whose "smart kids" are around average* for the school then do not get into the advanced math group in 5th grade, do not get selected for starting foreign language earlier, later do not get selected for Honors in 9th grade or into the early STEM AP science track in 10th.
(*test-in private school with avg= 90th%ile on the WISC, or FSIQ around 118, not surprisingly the median SAT is usually right around 1400 using superscore; the top quartile is 98%ile+ on WISC and 1480+ on SAT)

The parents wring their hands, often literally, seeking testing of all sorts because it MUST be executive function or ADHD or test anxiety--it cannot possibly be that the kid while brighter than average, is not going to be in the top 20-30% who are selected for the highest level coursework, at this private school, due to where the top kids are naturally. Correlated but not as common are the kids who are 95th%ile, in all the top groups, but parents frustrated they cannot keep up with the small group of 99+%ile kids and get the A and A+ in the most advanced classes. They are looking for reasons the kid has a B+ in the most difficult math track(BC calc in 11th), or the hardest AP science, not understanding that As are only for the top third in this school. They want extra time, outside tutors, diagnoses to "fix" the fact that their kid is not one of the top few in the grade. The answer is the kid is merely not quite as academically talented in some areas. These parents are not trying to lie or falsify anything. They truly do not comprehend that their kid is not the best and brightest, and there are other kids sometimes significantly above them academically.

About half of these parents shop around and pay for various testing and get the diagnosis for extra time. It does not help them much in our school because we have ways to evaluate that are not affected much by extra time. However it boosts their ACT and SAT by a LOT from the predicted scores based on school records and how they did prior to extra time. Teachers and admin are frustrated but what can anyone do? The same thing happens at the private school down the road.

[Anonymous]

Law prof here: trust me, we can tell who gets the extra time accommodations, even when it's anonymous, because those exams are invariably really long or too wordy or just off. More time doesn't mean you write a better exam or get better grades, far from it.

[Anonymous]

My DS could’ve gotten accommodations in school for ADHD. He told me extra time wouldn’t help if he didn’t know the answer or how to solve the problem. Touché.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three things are true:

1. There are kids who legitimately need accommodations and should receive them.

2. There are an unknown number of families (disproportionately UC) who falsely claim disabilities to get an unfair advantage.

3. There’s also a group of kids with typical abilities and traits whose personality challenges have led to a “disability” label, not to gain an advantage but bc of the current trend towards medicalization. Many well-meaning people and parents in this group, but an inappropriate result nevertheless.

Our inability to distinguish between these groups is the root cause of the problem described in the article.

It's mostly #2

PP here. I suspect it’s mostly #3.

I’m astonished by the number of genuinely caring parents who take their kids to doctors or therapy or go through assessments for “normal” kid issues.

Not to mention the trend of starting kids on therapy who have no current need for it whatsoever, to “get them used to it.” SMH.

I’m okay with parents sending their kids to therapy, they can learn great coping strategies. It’s academic accommodations I think that do a disservice to them and others.

They can also end up medicalized. When you’re holding a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three things are true:

1. There are kids who legitimately need accommodations and should receive them.

2. There are an unknown number of families (disproportionately UC) who falsely claim disabilities to get an unfair advantage.

3. There’s also a group of kids with typical abilities and traits whose personality challenges have led to a “disability” label, not to gain an advantage but bc of the current trend towards medicalization. Many well-meaning people and parents in this group, but an inappropriate result nevertheless.

Our inability to distinguish between these groups is the root cause of the problem described in the article.

From the perspective of private school disabilities/accommodations office, with a trained PsyD on staff, it is almost all a version of #3:
Parents whose "smart kids" are around average* for the school then do not get into the advanced math group in 5th grade, do not get selected for starting foreign language earlier, later do not get selected for Honors in 9th grade or into the early STEM AP science track in 10th.
(*test-in private school with avg= 90th%ile on the WISC, or FSIQ around 118, not surprisingly the median SAT is usually right around 1400 using superscore; the top quartile is 98%ile+ on WISC and 1480+ on SAT)

The parents wring their hands, often literally, seeking testing of all sorts because it MUST be executive function or ADHD or test anxiety--it cannot possibly be that the kid while brighter than average, is not going to be in the top 20-30% who are selected for the highest level coursework, at this private school, due to where the top kids are naturally. Correlated but not as common are the kids who are 95th%ile, in all the top groups, but parents frustrated they cannot keep up with the small group of 99+%ile kids and get the A and A+ in the most advanced classes. They are looking for reasons the kid has a B+ in the most difficult math track(BC calc in 11th), or the hardest AP science, not understanding that As are only for the top third in this school. They want extra time, outside tutors, diagnoses to "fix" the fact that their kid is not one of the top few in the grade. The answer is the kid is merely not quite as academically talented in some areas. These parents are not trying to lie or falsify anything. They truly do not comprehend that their kid is not the best and brightest, and there are other kids sometimes significantly above them academically.

About half of these parents shop around and pay for various testing and get the diagnosis for extra time. It does not help them much in our school because we have ways to evaluate that are not affected much by extra time. However it boosts their ACT and SAT by a LOT from the predicted scores based on school records and how they did prior to extra time. Teachers and admin are frustrated but what can anyone do? The same thing happens at the private school down the road.

Oy. And people wonder why kids end up with anxiety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three things are true:

1. There are kids who legitimately need accommodations and should receive them.

2. There are an unknown number of families (disproportionately UC) who falsely claim disabilities to get an unfair advantage.

3. There’s also a group of kids with typical abilities and traits whose personality challenges have led to a “disability” label, not to gain an advantage but bc of the current trend towards medicalization. Many well-meaning people and parents in this group, but an inappropriate result nevertheless.

Our inability to distinguish between these groups is the root cause of the problem described in the article.

It's mostly #2

PP here. I suspect it’s mostly #3.

I’m astonished by the number of genuinely caring parents who take their kids to doctors or therapy or go through assessments for “normal” kid issues.

Not to mention the trend of starting kids on therapy who have no current need for it whatsoever, to “get them used to it.” SMH.

I'm sure there are some genuine parents out there, but as it pertains to obtaining an advantage to gain selection to the top colleges, it's mostly #2.

The Varsity Blues scandal shed light on the ways some UMC and wealthy families cheat. The accommodations play is no exception.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three things are true:

1. There are kids who legitimately need accommodations and should receive them.

2. There are an unknown number of families (disproportionately UC) who falsely claim disabilities to get an unfair advantage.

3. There’s also a group of kids with typical abilities and traits whose personality challenges have led to a “disability” label, not to gain an advantage but bc of the current trend towards medicalization. Many well-meaning people and parents in this group, but an inappropriate result nevertheless.

Our inability to distinguish between these groups is the root cause of the problem described in the article.

From the perspective of private school disabilities/accommodations office, with a trained PsyD on staff, it is almost all a version of #3:
Parents whose "smart kids" are around average* for the school then do not get into the advanced math group in 5th grade, do not get selected for starting foreign language earlier, later do not get selected for Honors in 9th grade or into the early STEM AP science track in 10th.
(*test-in private school with avg= 90th%ile on the WISC, or FSIQ around 118, not surprisingly the median SAT is usually right around 1400 using superscore; the top quartile is 98%ile+ on WISC and 1480+ on SAT)

The parents wring their hands, often literally, seeking testing of all sorts because it MUST be executive function or ADHD or test anxiety--it cannot possibly be that the kid while brighter than average, is not going to be in the top 20-30% who are selected for the highest level coursework, at this private school, due to where the top kids are naturally. Correlated but not as common are the kids who are 95th%ile, in all the top groups, but parents frustrated they cannot keep up with the small group of 99+%ile kids and get the A and A+ in the most advanced classes. They are looking for reasons the kid has a B+ in the most difficult math track(BC calc in 11th), or the hardest AP science, not understanding that As are only for the top third in this school. They want extra time, outside tutors, diagnoses to "fix" the fact that their kid is not one of the top few in the grade. The answer is the kid is merely not quite as academically talented in some areas. These parents are not trying to lie or falsify anything. They truly do not comprehend that their kid is not the best and brightest, and there are other kids sometimes significantly above them academically.

About half of these parents shop around and pay for various testing and get the diagnosis for extra time. It does not help them much in our school because we have ways to evaluate that are not affected much by extra time. However it boosts their ACT and SAT by a LOT from the predicted scores based on school records and how they did prior to extra time. Teachers and admin are frustrated but what can anyone do? The same thing happens at the private school down the road.

+1

As one college consultant says "If you do not have an accommodations on file, it must be because your parents dont love you".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Law prof here: trust me, we can tell who gets the extra time accommodations, even when it's anonymous, because those exams are invariably really long or too wordy or just off. More time doesn't mean you write a better exam or get better grades, far from it.

You don’t use word limits on your exams? I thought virtually all law professors did that at this point? Prevents it from being a typing contest.

[Anonymous]

The ACT used to mark if a student had extended time on the exam until 2002. I know that probably isn’t legal nowadays, but seems like a great solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will no longer subscribe to the Atlantic or even add traffic to their site, but I can imagine what the rest of the article is like. You know what the solution is to this 'problem'? Give everyone extra time - it is ridiculous, particularly at the college level, to think one person is smarter or better educated or better prepared because it takes them less time to solve a problem or write an essay than the next person.

Yea, time to complete is a marker of intelligence. If it takes you hours to solve a problem someone does in 20 minutes you are not as smart as them. The world doesn’t have infinite time to allow the slowest to catch up.

What you’re pointing out is not everyone is meant to go to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will no longer subscribe to the Atlantic or even add traffic to their site, but I can imagine what the rest of the article is like. You know what the solution is to this 'problem'? Give everyone extra time - it is ridiculous, particularly at the college level, to think one person is smarter or better educated or better prepared because it takes them less time to solve a problem or write an essay than the next person.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don't have a grasp on the material, then no amount of extra time is going to change that . . . but be angry about extra time if it makes you feel better.

Wrong. Extra time students often get to come back to finish. That extra time in between testing gives them time to look up answers.

That is far less common. Most are 50% extra. 100% is next most common. Both of those are typically in one sitting. Splitting over multiple sessions, much less common.

Eh. So give them the test in two parts so they don't have the opportunity to cheat like you assume they will.

that is what happens. they don't get to see the whole exam- only the part they have to finish in the first time slot.

Not always.