Accommodation requests for sitting for SAT and ACT college entrance and talent search examinations

[Anonymous]

My 4th Grader took the PSAT exam at the local public high school last month. He revealed to us he found the math was very easy but he did get to finish all the sections. If he had gotten accommodation he would have had an extra 2 to 3 hours to complete all the sections. He has time management problems and doesn't like to sit for long periods. The PSAT is a 2 hours in length. I suspect he would have a higher score with accommodation and extra time.

[Anonymous]

errata ".... he did not get to finish all the sections..."

[Anonymous]

My dd gets extra time so she knows exactly who at her school gets extra time since they take the tests together. It isn't that many kids and they are the kids you would expect - the ones who need extra support generally. So at least one school isn't gaming. For what it's worth my dd was diagnosed in 2nd grade, has had extra time on tests since then, and would gladly trade with any kid who doesn't need the extra time.

As to it being a phenomenon among white kids in private schools I suspect it is tied pretty closely to SES. It is very expensive to get the testing required to qualify for extra time. We had to have hers redone since her old Dx was out of date for College Board purposes. $2500 for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 4th Grader took the PSAT exam at the local public high school last month. He revealed to us he found the math was very easy but he did get to finish all the sections. If he had gotten accommodation he would have had an extra 2 to 3 hours to complete all the sections. He has time management problems and doesn't like to sit for long periods. The PSAT is a 2 hours in length. I suspect he would have a higher score with accommodation and extra time.

extra time is 50% extra time - it's not unlimited.

[Anonymous]

I think he'll take the 50% extra time. Very generous indeed. In fact, I could have used an extra hour on my SAT back in the 70s!

[Anonymous]

As to it being a phenomenon among white kids in private schools I suspect it is tied pretty closely to SES. It is very expensive to get the testing required to qualify for extra time. We had to have hers redone since her old Dx was out of date for College Board purposes. $2500 for that.

As much as I hate to agree with you. I suspect you are right about SES. Does your rationale also apply to extensive outside extracurricular tutors and multiple anonymous SAT, PSAT and ACT testing attempts?

Does SES correlate with gaming the system?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: He has time management problems and doesn't like to sit for long periods.

Aren't many if not most fourth graders like this? Are these grounds for special accommodation?

[Anonymous]

Why not? If high school students can get accommodation for similar signs and symptoms why discriminate against a 4th grader? Give them more time if they need it.

[Anonymous]

Clearly white kids are dumber than kids of color. Right? I mean, when black kids score poorer on tests, we naturally conclude they're just not as bright. So when white kids have more learning issues, is the same conclusion not equally valid?

Oops!

[Anonymous]

Fourth graders do not take the PSAT.

If some exceptional, genius child is taking the PSAT in the fourth grade, it is highly unlikely s/he needs special accommodation.

Think, people. Better yet, think critically.

[Anonymous]

Fourth graders do not take the PSAT.

If some exceptional, genius child is taking the PSAT in the fourth grade, it is highly unlikely s/he needs special accommodation.

Think, people. Better yet, think critically

.

The PSAT is offered in October every year and administered by the College Board through the high schools across our land. Many students take this exam including homeschoolers, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th graders (or for you: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 year olds, for example) if they arrange with a local high school to take the exam. Some of the local high schools will ask for the $13 cost, others have extra exam papers and do not charge outside pupils. Some high schools even offer it to their 9th graders (mandatory) as preparation for the real deal a year or 2 later.

Please do not pass on your nonsensical dribble if you do not know what you are talking about. You are not an educator and you have at best below average education and intelligence. Some elementary and many middle school students take the PSAT exam. You do not have to be a genius to take the PSAT, ACT or SAT exam in America. The College Board does not require this as a prerequisite. In fact, some elementary and many middle school students take the SAT and ACT throughout this free land of ours. If you want advise as to how you might go about it for your children simply ask rather than your round about disingenuinous methods. You certainly are receiving a free education aren't you? Your private school would charge you a pretty penny for my advice and consultation.

Fourth graders as well as 10th graders may require accommodations. Of course in your world it seems reasonable for 10th graders (gaming the system) to receive accommodations even when they did not earlier when in the 4th grade and were normal.

[Anonymous]

Fourth graders do not take the PSAT.

If some exceptional, genius child is taking the PSAT in the fourth grade, it is highly unlikely s/he needs special accommodation.

Think, people. Better yet, think critically.

An empty vessel and shallow mind!

If 4th graders can play the violin and piano at a high or lofty level (or swim, play lacrosse, baseball, tennis, gulf and gymnastics at a lofty level) why can't a 4th grader perform an intellectual exercise at a high level?

Sounds like the PP is not thinking critically. Perhaps the PSAT exam is a humanly impossible hurdle for a 4th grader unlike any other talents known to mankind!

[Anonymous]

If a 4th grader can't complete the PSAT without accommodations, it is unlikely that they are of the "exceptional" variety. There is no shame in this. But reality should be faced. If one needs accommodations to find success, one should not seek to hide this fact.

[Anonymous]

The previous post makes no sense. When does a student that is not "exceptional" qualify for accommodations to take the PSAT? (if not 4th grade, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th 11th ?)
When is it ok to start to game the system and request accommodation to take the PSAT? If not 4th grade which grade? Please clarify your statement?

Do affluent families and students in area D.C. private schools game the national testing system (SAT/ACT) with special requests for accommodation (e.g. spurious diagnoses such as A.H.A.D.)?
...Testing organizations have long feared that unmerited accommodations, especially extra time, undermines their exams’ integrity.

A 2000 audit of California test takers showed a disproportionate number of white, affluent students receiving accommodations, igniting suspicions of exaggerated or nonexistent disabilities. Three years later, in the wake of a lawsuit, ACT and the College Board stopped flagging scores of accommodated students for admissions offices; with the stigma gone, the incentive grew to game the system

[Anonymous]

For all of you who doubt that learning issues just pop up in 10th grade -- what happens is with the advent of honors/AP classes, the traditional compensatory strategies are no longer effective and performance and self esteem begin to drop. Since there is no way a child with visual processing issues/graphomotor challenges (in addition to others) can keep up with the amount and intensity of work parents approach educational testing gingerly, since it is the final admission that something they may have always suspected about their child's learning issues is probably true. So the additional time allotted by the school/testing agencies is in fact something that the child needed along, but instead the child had to (or not) work 2 or 3 times as hard as other students. If schools did a better job of identifying learning challenges earlier, then more children would get the time they needed well before 10th grade and not appear to others as "gaming the system"