WSJ article on more students especially the affluent get extra time on SAT

[Anonymous]

My daughter's friends get extra time for ADHD. But here's the deal...if they take their meds, they are functionally normal. So why give them extra time?

[Anonymous]

Extra time on the SAT is one thing.
Extra time on the ACT - a time pressured test - is another. All you need is time. With enough time, almost everyone should be able to achieve a 35 or 36...as these kids do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one should get extra time. It is just a scam for the wealthy to push their kids above the others.

In real life you don't get extra time.

Really? My kid with ADHD got 1030 on the PSAT with a 504. Is this a score of a scam??

Our friend’s son got a 1550 with extra time and the kid was thrilled, as was the mom. She directly said it was a boatload of work for the accommodations and now that they got them, the kid stopped all meds and all therapy. Kid posted about it on Instagram. So just bc your kid didn’t benefit from it, doesn’t mean others don’t and 100% people scam the system.

Do you even hear yourself?

"Load kids up on drugs and therapy, instead of of giving them... a few minutes to think".

Really??!!

DP.

I think the drugs and the therapy was part of the scam.
They had to do it to make the diagnosis look real.

This. I am that poster. The mom - a physician - said, “don’t hate the player.” She said she know they have cracked down after Operation University Blues. The day the SAT results were released, she texted and said they can drop the “charade.”

So, no one was thinking it was extra time OR drugs. It was do what is necessary to get extra time (drugs, therapy) and then drop the charade. The kid also posted on Instagram the day after the SAT results came out and said he doesn’t have ADHD after all and is now med free. I saw the post.

There were several families in the Varsity Blues cohort that faked the process for recruited athletes. The logic that many are applying in this thread is that all recruited athletes must be cheats since there are some bad apples who faked their records with a corrupt consultant who went to jail. It is nuts.

You are all focused on the wrong problem. We need to fix the process for assessing learning disabilities in school. There are available tools to quantify and measure learning disabilities, but the only available path in our broken education system is expensive private testing. That is why there are economic disparities. Most families can't drop thousands of dollars for private testing. If schools handled this assessment process for all students, it would ensure adequate support in classrooms and reduce the risk for corrupt behaviors for securing accommodations.

No one on DCUM cares that an untold number of kids are slipping through the cracks. They are just angry and fearful that their own snowflake is potentially disadvantaged.

This is 100% accurate. Our DD was sent for testing in 2nd grade because her teacher noticed that she was struggling and following behind. She was diagnosed with a visual disability, ADHD, and low processing speed. As testing has to be updated, we've spent almost 15K on testing over the years. It was not to scam the system, but to ensure our DD had a fair shake at getting an education. As her 2nd grade teacher said, it would be easy to write her off and pass her along as a nice little girl who was just a bit dull. Yes, she got extra time along with other accommodations, but it made a huge difference in her ability to succeed because her visual issue and processing speed meant she needed those few extra minutes.

Isn't this what we used to call a bit dull?

Is being slow a learning disability that we correct for now?

Why shouldn't this student get extra time? My DD is similar and gets extra time but no worries. She won't be competing with your snowflake because her scores are still pretty low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one should get extra time. It is just a scam for the wealthy to push their kids above the others.

In real life you don't get extra time.

Really? My kid with ADHD got 1030 on the PSAT with a 504. Is this a score of a scam??

Our friend’s son got a 1550 with extra time and the kid was thrilled, as was the mom. She directly said it was a boatload of work for the accommodations and now that they got them, the kid stopped all meds and all therapy. Kid posted about it on Instagram. So just bc your kid didn’t benefit from it, doesn’t mean others don’t and 100% people scam the system.

Do you even hear yourself?

"Load kids up on drugs and therapy, instead of of giving them... a few minutes to think".

Really??!!

DP.

I think the drugs and the therapy was part of the scam.
They had to do it to make the diagnosis look real.

This. I am that poster. The mom - a physician - said, “don’t hate the player.” She said she know they have cracked down after Operation University Blues. The day the SAT results were released, she texted and said they can drop the “charade.”

So, no one was thinking it was extra time OR drugs. It was do what is necessary to get extra time (drugs, therapy) and then drop the charade. The kid also posted on Instagram the day after the SAT results came out and said he doesn’t have ADHD after all and is now med free. I saw the post.

There were several families in the Varsity Blues cohort that faked the process for recruited athletes. The logic that many are applying in this thread is that all recruited athletes must be cheats since there are some bad apples who faked their records with a corrupt consultant who went to jail. It is nuts.

You are all focused on the wrong problem. We need to fix the process for assessing learning disabilities in school. There are available tools to quantify and measure learning disabilities, but the only available path in our broken education system is expensive private testing. That is why there are economic disparities. Most families can't drop thousands of dollars for private testing. If schools handled this assessment process for all students, it would ensure adequate support in classrooms and reduce the risk for corrupt behaviors for securing accommodations.

No one on DCUM cares that an untold number of kids are slipping through the cracks. They are just angry and fearful that their own snowflake is potentially disadvantaged.

This is 100% accurate. Our DD was sent for testing in 2nd grade because her teacher noticed that she was struggling and following behind. She was diagnosed with a visual disability, ADHD, and low processing speed. As testing has to be updated, we've spent almost 15K on testing over the years. It was not to scam the system, but to ensure our DD had a fair shake at getting an education. As her 2nd grade teacher said, it would be easy to write her off and pass her along as a nice little girl who was just a bit dull. Yes, she got extra time along with other accommodations, but it made a huge difference in her ability to succeed because her visual issue and processing speed meant she needed those few extra minutes.

Isn't this what we used to call a bit dull?

Is being slow a learning disability that we correct for now?

Yes, it is as her IQ was above average, but processing is slow. Visual disability has nothing to do with intelligence. I understand your frustration but will not apologize for getting my daughter the services she needs to maximize her potential and learn how to navigate her disability. She graduated from college with honors, had amazing internships with glowing reviews, and is now in law school where she hopes to one day serve as an advocate for others with disabilities. PP, I don't understand why you are so worked up that neurodiverse kids are supported to become productive adults. I understand your frustration if people are gaming the system. But to insinuate that I should have thrown up my hands and said "Well, she's just not very smart and has bad eyes" is really mean-spirited. If your child is neurotypical, you should be grateful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one should get extra time. It is just a scam for the wealthy to push their kids above the others.

In real life you don't get extra time.

Really? My kid with ADHD got 1030 on the PSAT with a 504. Is this a score of a scam??

Our friend’s son got a 1550 with extra time and the kid was thrilled, as was the mom. She directly said it was a boatload of work for the accommodations and now that they got them, the kid stopped all meds and all therapy. Kid posted about it on Instagram. So just bc your kid didn’t benefit from it, doesn’t mean others don’t and 100% people scam the system.

Do you even hear yourself?

"Load kids up on drugs and therapy, instead of of giving them... a few minutes to think".

Really??!!

DP.

I think the drugs and the therapy was part of the scam.
They had to do it to make the diagnosis look real.

This. I am that poster. The mom - a physician - said, “don’t hate the player.” She said she know they have cracked down after Operation University Blues. The day the SAT results were released, she texted and said they can drop the “charade.”

So, no one was thinking it was extra time OR drugs. It was do what is necessary to get extra time (drugs, therapy) and then drop the charade. The kid also posted on Instagram the day after the SAT results came out and said he doesn’t have ADHD after all and is now med free. I saw the post.

There were several families in the Varsity Blues cohort that faked the process for recruited athletes. The logic that many are applying in this thread is that all recruited athletes must be cheats since there are some bad apples who faked their records with a corrupt consultant who went to jail. It is nuts.

You are all focused on the wrong problem. We need to fix the process for assessing learning disabilities in school. There are available tools to quantify and measure learning disabilities, but the only available path in our broken education system is expensive private testing. That is why there are economic disparities. Most families can't drop thousands of dollars for private testing. If schools handled this assessment process for all students, it would ensure adequate support in classrooms and reduce the risk for corrupt behaviors for securing accommodations.

No one on DCUM cares that an untold number of kids are slipping through the cracks. They are just angry and fearful that their own snowflake is potentially disadvantaged.

This is 100% accurate. Our DD was sent for testing in 2nd grade because her teacher noticed that she was struggling and following behind. She was diagnosed with a visual disability, ADHD, and low processing speed. As testing has to be updated, we've spent almost 15K on testing over the years. It was not to scam the system, but to ensure our DD had a fair shake at getting an education. As her 2nd grade teacher said, it would be easy to write her off and pass her along as a nice little girl who was just a bit dull. Yes, she got extra time along with other accommodations, but it made a huge difference in her ability to succeed because her visual issue and processing speed meant she needed those few extra minutes.

Isn't this what we used to call a bit dull?

Is being slow a learning disability that we correct for now?

Yes, it is as her IQ was above average, but processing is slow. Visual disability has nothing to do with intelligence. I understand your frustration but will not apologize for getting my daughter the services she needs to maximize her potential and learn how to navigate her disability. She graduated from college with honors, had amazing internships with glowing reviews, and is now in law school where she hopes to one day serve as an advocate for others with disabilities. PP, I don't understand why you are so worked up that neurodiverse kids are supported to become productive adults. I understand your frustration if people are gaming the system. But to insinuate that I should have thrown up my hands and said "Well, she's just not very smart and has bad eyes" is really mean-spirited. If your child is neurotypical, you should be grateful.

I’m glad she got the actual learning support she needed- that’s appropriate. What I continue to find inappropriate is the denial that processing speed actually is a legitimate measurement of academic ability. Trying to remove processing speed as a variable from all standardized testing is basically saying you cannot test it.

[Anonymous]

First time I ever saw testing accommodations was in law school, 20 years ago. Another student, nothing special, got all the time in the world to do the exams. No rush. Where I'm writing left handed as fast as I could, cramping, trying my damnedest to get something in on time. I was an LSAT taker who after practicing for a few weeks, realized that I would have to focus on getting answers right rather than answering every question. It hurt and yet it was the only way I could get a good enough score. (I did well, but if I had an extra 15 minutes per section...!)

And here a year later was a kid who got all day to do his test. I didn't understand it. Then it dawned on me that these fancy expensive people always figure out a way to get themselves a win. They never really have to play by the rules. Slow? No need to skip questions or grind it out; the accommodation will fix that for you.

I don't want to denigrate the disabled. But I only saw a need for accommodations during my time among the elites. One more reason to be annoyed at them.

[Anonymous]

I think the issue with this thread is some posters are saying here is a real life example of someone scamming the system and others are saying my kid really needed the accommodation, so you’re wrong. Some people need it, some people are opening scamming the system. Both are true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue with this thread is some posters are saying here is a real life example of someone scamming the system and others are saying my kid really needed the accommodation, so you’re wrong. Some people need it, some people are opening scamming the system. Both are true.

Agree, and those of us whose kids legitimately need the accommodation are equally frustrated as it takes resources away from those who truly need support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some students 100% need accommodations. Some do not not. 30% of our all girls private gets extra time for a variety of issues, the largest group being anxiety. Some of them have extreme anxiety some do not. Fast forward to how these kids do in college: a subset of them, not near the majority, scored significantly higher and got into more rigorous colleges than they could handle, colleges where most have over 1450 easily. Even with extra time in college, it does not help for classes that give 4 hours to everyone for a very difficult calc final that most finish in 90 minutes. 4 hrs or even more than 4 would not help them. But boy did it help them on the ACT and SAT and high school tests, so yes they had high school stats that were overinflated. That is not the majority of cases from where I sit (high school teacher with gifted ed and special ed training): most extra time is legit. It just stings when it is not or when it is exaggerated. Moving to zero time pressure tests, as many colleges have done, is the best solution for high school and SAT/ACT.

The classes at Penn State are not less rigorous than the classes at Michigan. The hardest part about Harvard is getting in, professors are under pressure to help students succeed, not fail them especially at elite schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue with this thread is some posters are saying here is a real life example of someone scamming the system and others are saying my kid really needed the accommodation, so you’re wrong. Some people need it, some people are opening scamming the system. Both are true.

The real issue with thread is that it's over five years old

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one should get extra time. It is just a scam for the wealthy to push their kids above the others.

In real life you don't get extra time.

Really? My kid with ADHD got 1030 on the PSAT with a 504. Is this a score of a scam??

Our friend’s son got a 1550 with extra time and the kid was thrilled, as was the mom. She directly said it was a boatload of work for the accommodations and now that they got them, the kid stopped all meds and all therapy. Kid posted about it on Instagram. So just bc your kid didn’t benefit from it, doesn’t mean others don’t and 100% people scam the system.

Do you even hear yourself?

"Load kids up on drugs and therapy, instead of of giving them... a few minutes to think".

Really??!!

DP.

I think the drugs and the therapy was part of the scam.
They had to do it to make the diagnosis look real.

This. I am that poster. The mom - a physician - said, “don’t hate the player.” She said she know they have cracked down after Operation University Blues. The day the SAT results were released, she texted and said they can drop the “charade.”

So, no one was thinking it was extra time OR drugs. It was do what is necessary to get extra time (drugs, therapy) and then drop the charade. The kid also posted on Instagram the day after the SAT results came out and said he doesn’t have ADHD after all and is now med free. I saw the post.

There were several families in the Varsity Blues cohort that faked the process for recruited athletes. The logic that many are applying in this thread is that all recruited athletes must be cheats since there are some bad apples who faked their records with a corrupt consultant who went to jail. It is nuts.

You are all focused on the wrong problem. We need to fix the process for assessing learning disabilities in school. There are available tools to quantify and measure learning disabilities, but the only available path in our broken education system is expensive private testing. That is why there are economic disparities. Most families can't drop thousands of dollars for private testing. If schools handled this assessment process for all students, it would ensure adequate support in classrooms and reduce the risk for corrupt behaviors for securing accommodations.

No one on DCUM cares that an untold number of kids are slipping through the cracks. They are just angry and fearful that their own snowflake is potentially disadvantaged.

This is 100% accurate. Our DD was sent for testing in 2nd grade because her teacher noticed that she was struggling and following behind. She was diagnosed with a visual disability, ADHD, and low processing speed. As testing has to be updated, we've spent almost 15K on testing over the years. It was not to scam the system, but to ensure our DD had a fair shake at getting an education. As her 2nd grade teacher said, it would be easy to write her off and pass her along as a nice little girl who was just a bit dull. Yes, she got extra time along with other accommodations, but it made a huge difference in her ability to succeed because her visual issue and processing speed meant she needed those few extra minutes.

Isn't this what we used to call a bit dull?

Is being slow a learning disability that we correct for now?

If the parents can afford the testing, then a bit dull transforms into slow processing speed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter's friends get extra time for ADHD. But here's the deal...if they take their meds, they are functionally normal. So why give them extra time?

I wish it was as simple as that. Meds help, but they don't make my ADHD kid functionally normal. He is far from that. Maybe your daughter's friends are lucky that meds are the magic fix for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one needs accommodations. Peoples children are extremely over medicated.

People with poor eyesight need glasses or guide dogs. People with poor hearing need hearing aids or ASL interpreters. People with wheelchairs need ramps. People with dyslexia need extra time to read. They are all accommodations. It’s about access - access to physical areas, access to communication, access to written material.

Sure let’s use those examples. Any kid that wants to can get glasses or use the ramp. They are not allowed ONLY for the people who need them most. Same should apply with extra time - some kids do need it; so let all kids that want it have the op to on of the extra time.

[Anonymous]

five year old article and thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one should get extra time. It is just a scam for the wealthy to push their kids above the others.

In real life you don't get extra time.

Really? My kid with ADHD got 1030 on the PSAT with a 504. Is this a score of a scam??

Our friend’s son got a 1550 with extra time and the kid was thrilled, as was the mom. She directly said it was a boatload of work for the accommodations and now that they got them, the kid stopped all meds and all therapy. Kid posted about it on Instagram. So just bc your kid didn’t benefit from it, doesn’t mean others don’t and 100% people scam the system.

Do you even hear yourself?

"Load kids up on drugs and therapy, instead of of giving them... a few minutes to think".

Really??!!

DP.

I think the drugs and the therapy was part of the scam.
They had to do it to make the diagnosis look real.

This. I am that poster. The mom - a physician - said, “don’t hate the player.” She said she know they have cracked down after Operation University Blues. The day the SAT results were released, she texted and said they can drop the “charade.”

So, no one was thinking it was extra time OR drugs. It was do what is necessary to get extra time (drugs, therapy) and then drop the charade. The kid also posted on Instagram the day after the SAT results came out and said he doesn’t have ADHD after all and is now med free. I saw the post.

There were several families in the Varsity Blues cohort that faked the process for recruited athletes. The logic that many are applying in this thread is that all recruited athletes must be cheats since there are some bad apples who faked their records with a corrupt consultant who went to jail. It is nuts.

You are all focused on the wrong problem. We need to fix the process for assessing learning disabilities in school. There are available tools to quantify and measure learning disabilities, but the only available path in our broken education system is expensive private testing. That is why there are economic disparities. Most families can't drop thousands of dollars for private testing. If schools handled this assessment process for all students, it would ensure adequate support in classrooms and reduce the risk for corrupt behaviors for securing accommodations.

No one on DCUM cares that an untold number of kids are slipping through the cracks. They are just angry and fearful that their own snowflake is potentially disadvantaged.

This is 100% accurate. Our DD was sent for testing in 2nd grade because her teacher noticed that she was struggling and following behind. She was diagnosed with a visual disability, ADHD, and low processing speed. As testing has to be updated, we've spent almost 15K on testing over the years. It was not to scam the system, but to ensure our DD had a fair shake at getting an education. As her 2nd grade teacher said, it would be easy to write her off and pass her along as a nice little girl who was just a bit dull. Yes, she got extra time along with other accommodations, but it made a huge difference in her ability to succeed because her visual issue and processing speed meant she needed those few extra minutes.

Isn't this what we used to call a bit dull?

Is being slow a learning disability that we correct for now?

Yes, it is as her IQ was above average, but processing is slow. Visual disability has nothing to do with intelligence. I understand your frustration but will not apologize for getting my daughter the services she needs to maximize her potential and learn how to navigate her disability. She graduated from college with honors, had amazing internships with glowing reviews, and is now in law school where she hopes to one day serve as an advocate for others with disabilities. PP, I don't understand why you are so worked up that neurodiverse kids are supported to become productive adults. I understand your frustration if people are gaming the system. But to insinuate that I should have thrown up my hands and said "Well, she's just not very smart and has bad eyes" is really mean-spirited. If your child is neurotypical, you should be grateful.

I’m glad she got the actual learning support she needed- that’s appropriate. What I continue to find inappropriate is the denial that processing speed actually is a legitimate measurement of academic ability. Trying to remove processing speed as a variable from all standardized testing is basically saying you cannot test it.

How do you account for kids that are slower processors but very deep thinkers? Her GAI is in the genius range but excludes processing speed because of the deviation of the score. Trust me, she is not at all dull. She is so bright and comes up with the most creative solutions and ideas. It just takes a while.