Claiming a disability on the SAT/ACT - have people been gaming the system?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My niece got unlimited time at the SAT over the course of 2 days in a private room with ADD and Anxiety. I had never heard of that!

Yeah, that's exactly what Singer got for his clients. It is really unusual and not even in the standard list of accommodations available on the CB website.

Her SAT scores were not the kind anyone would pay for..though she is successfully enrolled in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DDs experience was exactly opposite. She’s had verified testing and accommodations since age 8. And lengthy neuropsych testing and reports every 3 years. She was denied extra time on the ACT. Our appeals were denied. (My full time day job is writing appellate briefs — usually successfully.) She’s since graduated college (where she chose not to continue accommodations) and is well employed. So I’d love to know how so many others were able to get accommodations.

My child has a bizarre illness which included below the lowest levels of white bloods, antibiotic immunity, blood pooling at lower extremities if they sat for more than 30 minutes, and parasympathetic nervous system symptoms. This kid fought to keep up in school and to do the best they humanly could. Neuropsych and cardiologist reports sent to ACT.

Rejected from accomodations by the ACT until the night before the test.

How unfair and stressful.

[Anonymous]

This is rampant at private schools - the wealthier the population, the higher the % of accommodations. I have friends whose kids got accommodations in 10th grade - got diagnosis, handed to school, school had to accommodated, the school filed w College Board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My niece got unlimited time at the SAT over the course of 2 days in a private room with ADD and Anxiety. I had never heard of that!

Yeah, that's exactly what Singer got for his clients. It is really unusual and not even in the standard list of accommodations available on the CB website.

Her SAT scores were not the kind anyone would pay for..though she is successfully enrolled in college.

My niece got unlimited time too. She still scored 1000 (by the way, this is average in case all your 1500+ or bust folks didn't know).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is rampant at private schools - the wealthier the population, the higher the % of accommodations. I have friends whose kids got accommodations in 10th grade - got diagnosis, handed to school, school had to accommodated, the school filed w College Board.

I know there’s abuse but just another perspective. DD was eligible for accommodations since age 7 but she was smart enough to do well in elementary and we didn’t pursue accommodations (but had private reading tutor to help keep her on track). Things fell apart in middle school. Then she started getting anxious and depressed because she felt dumb. She was tested again and the Stixrud doc nearly yelled at us for not taking care of her better and sooner. So accommodations kicked in in 10th grade. We weren’t gaming anything.

[Anonymous]

Why do we have accommodations at all, except in severe cases? I understand if you're blind and need the test read to you, or you have a phsyical disability and can't easily fill in the circles on the sheet -- then extra time seems warranted.

But isn't the goal of the test to measure against other students? Why not have the same testing environment for all then? I realize some will score poorer than others, but isn't that exactly what it's trying to measure?

As an employer, if an aptitude test reflects your job duties, then it's useful to know how much you can accomplish within a fixed amount of time, because that's part of the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DDs experience was exactly opposite. She’s had verified testing and accommodations since age 8. And lengthy neuropsych testing and reports every 3 years. She was denied extra time on the ACT. Our appeals were denied. (My full time day job is writing appellate briefs — usually successfully.) She’s since graduated college (where she chose not to continue accommodations) and is well employed. So I’d love to know how so many others were able to get accommodations.

My child has a bizarre illness which included below the lowest levels of white bloods, antibiotic immunity, blood pooling at lower extremities if they sat for more than 30 minutes, and parasympathetic nervous system symptoms. This kid fought to keep up in school and to do the best they humanly could. Neuropsych and cardiologist reports sent to ACT.

Rejected from accomodations by the ACT until the night before the test.

*had a bizarre ilness. Doctor isn't sure but thinks it was caused by a virus and another complication.

I see people claiming that privacy rights have created a dirth of new students with accomodations. Can anyone discuss what happened when the ACT released a list (small sample) of MCPS students with accommodations to colleges? The person who told me is usually an excellent source.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is rampant at private schools - the wealthier the population, the higher the % of accommodations. I have friends whose kids got accommodations in 10th grade - got diagnosis, handed to school, school had to accommodated, the school filed w College Board.

It is not uncommon for kids who are twice exceptional to not get diagnosed until the beginning of high school when the pace of the classwork really picks up, and lecture style classes are more common.

My kids have been in both private and public school -- far more diagnoses in public school because of superior support systems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DDs experience was exactly opposite. She’s had verified testing and accommodations since age 8. And lengthy neuropsych testing and reports every 3 years. She was denied extra time on the ACT. Our appeals were denied. (My full time day job is writing appellate briefs — usually successfully.) She’s since graduated college (where she chose not to continue accommodations) and is well employed. So I’d love to know how so many others were able to get accommodations.

My child has a bizarre illness which included below the lowest levels of white bloods, antibiotic immunity, blood pooling at lower extremities if they sat for more than 30 minutes, and parasympathetic nervous system symptoms. This kid fought to keep up in school and to do the best they humanly could. Neuropsych and cardiologist reports sent to ACT.

Rejected from accomodations by the ACT until the night before the test.

*had a bizarre ilness. Doctor isn't sure but thinks it was caused by a virus and another complication.

I see people claiming that privacy rights have created a dirth of new students with accomodations. Can anyone discuss what happened when the ACT released a list (small sample) of MCPS students with accommodations to colleges? The person who told me is usually an excellent source.

There is a lawsuit pending. No resolution yet.

The College Board and SAT were told by the Dept of Education that they were violating students FERPA and HIPAA rights by disclosing without parental permission in the case of a minor, or student permission if 18. Dept of Ed told both to cease and desist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is rampant at private schools - the wealthier the population, the higher the % of accommodations. I have friends whose kids got accommodations in 10th grade - got diagnosis, handed to school, school had to accommodated, the school filed w College Board.

It is not uncommon for kids who are twice exceptional to not get diagnosed until the beginning of high school when the pace of the classwork really picks up, and lecture style classes are more common.

My kids have been in both private and public school -- far more diagnoses in public school because of superior support systems.

My friend in private got it for her kid - audio processing. Er..I can see it when in class, but u don’t listen to anything at an SAT or ACT test. But kid got double time for SAT and SAT subject tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do we have accommodations at all, except in severe cases? I understand if you're blind and need the test read to you, or you have a phsyical disability and can't easily fill in the circles on the sheet -- then extra time seems warranted.

But isn't the goal of the test to measure against other students? Why not have the same testing environment for all then? I realize some will score poorer than others, but isn't that exactly what it's trying to measure?

As an employer, if an aptitude test reflects your job duties, then it's useful to know how much you can accomplish within a fixed amount of time, because that's part of the job.

See the ADA. Education is a civil right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do we have accommodations at all, except in severe cases? I understand if you're blind and need the test read to you, or you have a phsyical disability and can't easily fill in the circles on the sheet -- then extra time seems warranted.

But isn't the goal of the test to measure against other students? Why not have the same testing environment for all then? I realize some will score poorer than others, but isn't that exactly what it's trying to measure?

As an employer, if an aptitude test reflects your job duties, then it's useful to know how much you can accomplish within a fixed amount of time, because that's part of the job.

Because speed, for example, isn't necessarily an indicator that you can't do well in college. You will need to work harder if you have a disability to master the content, but you should not be deprived of the opportunity because of a discriminatory bar to entry.

As for work, time extensions do not apply. Large scale computer monitors, accessible buildings and so forth do. Most students with disabilities will find jobs that are compatible with theri disability.

My son with significant fine motor challenges has the aptitude and academic record to succeed as a biologist or attorney. He is absolutely NOT capable of being a surgeon (or a chef) and would receive no accommodation to let him enter that specialty.

[Anonymous]

This is so depressing to families whose kids legitimately need accommodations. I assume it’s also depressing to families whose kids legitimately could have been recruited athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is rampant at private schools - the wealthier the population, the higher the % of accommodations. I have friends whose kids got accommodations in 10th grade - got diagnosis, handed to school, school had to accommodated, the school filed w College Board.

It is not uncommon for kids who are twice exceptional to not get diagnosed until the beginning of high school when the pace of the classwork really picks up, and lecture style classes are more common.

My kids have been in both private and public school -- far more diagnoses in public school because of superior support systems.

My friend in private got it for her kid - audio processing. Er..I can see it when in class, but u don’t listen to anything at an SAT or ACT test. But kid got double time for SAT and SAT subject tests.

If you get it for an SAT subject test you get it on the SAT. If it is irrelevant to the test, then it doesn't matter. My kid got a keyboard accommodation from the SAT in the even he decided to do the SAT writing test, so it wasn't obviously used. But the same accommodations sheet covered his AP exams, where it was relevant and used.

There are music SAT2 tests with a listening component, as well as foreign language test with a listening / translating component.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DDs experience was exactly opposite. She’s had verified testing and accommodations since age 8. And lengthy neuropsych testing and reports every 3 years. She was denied extra time on the ACT. Our appeals were denied. (My full time day job is writing appellate briefs — usually successfully.) She’s since graduated college (where she chose not to continue accommodations) and is well employed. So I’d love to know how so many others were able to get accommodations.

My child has a bizarre illness which included below the lowest levels of white bloods, antibiotic immunity, blood pooling at lower extremities if they sat for more than 30 minutes, and parasympathetic nervous system symptoms. This kid fought to keep up in school and to do the best they humanly could. Neuropsych and cardiologist reports sent to ACT.

Rejected from accomodations by the ACT until the night before the test.

*had a bizarre ilness. Doctor isn't sure but thinks it was caused by a virus and another complication.

I see people claiming that privacy rights have created a dirth of new students with accomodations. Can anyone discuss what happened when the ACT released a list (small sample) of MCPS students with accommodations to colleges? The person who told me is usually an excellent source.

There is a lawsuit pending. No resolution yet.

The College Board and SAT were told by the Dept of Education that they were violating students FERPA and HIPAA rights by disclosing without parental permission in the case of a minor, or student permission if 18. Dept of Ed told both to cease and desist.

Thank you. We are supposed to protect our children and I'll live with the regret of securing those fateful accommodations. They needed them and they refused to take time away from their studies to get better. I'm tearing up thinking about how much pain they were in daily.